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THE 

SHIPWRECK, 

A POEM 

IN THREE CANTOS. 



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A NEW EDITION. 



THE 



SHIPWRECK, 

A POEM 



BY 



WILLIAM FALCONER 

a . 

a sailor: 



quaeque ipse miserrima vidi, 

Et quorum pars magna fui. Virg. /En. Lib. II. 



THE TEXT ILLUSTRATED EY ADDITIONAL NOTES, AND COR- 
RECTED FROM THE FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS, 



A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, 



JAMES STANIER CLARKE, F. R. S. 

VICAK, OF TRESTON, AMD CHAl'LAIN OF THE HOUSEHOLD TO 

THE PRINCE. 



LONDON. 

PRINTED FOR WILLIAM MILLER, OLD BOND STREET, 

3&h C Eerwleg, IBolt eTourt. 
1804. 






r 






TO 

GEORGE, EARL OF EGREMONT 

F. R. S. 
MY LORD 

I feel particular pleasure in dedicating 
this Volume to you ; it having invariably been the 
object of your life, to protect the Bark that laboured 
amidst the Waves of this turbulent World : but for 
you, my Lord, mine would now drive at random be- 
fore the Wind; since the revered Pilot, who so long 
conducted it, is in the Grave. 

With a due sense of the many Favours you have 
honoured me with, and of the regard you had for 
that excellent Officer, 

I remain, my Lord, 

Your faithful Servant, 



Greenwich Hospital, JAMES STANIER CLARKE. 

Nov. 1803. 



ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION, 

PUBLISHED BY A. MILLAR, IN OCTAVO, 1764 ; 

With a Chart of the Ship's Path from Candia, to 
Cape Colonna. 

I t is perhaps necessary to acquaint the Public, that the 
Author of this Poem, designed not at first to enlarge the 
Work with so many notes, and, to avoid this, proposed 
to refer his readers to any one of the modern Dictionaries, 
which should be thought most proper for explaining the 
technical terms occasionally mentioned in the Poem; 
but after strict examination of them all, including a silly 
inadequate performance that has lately appeared by a 
Sea-Officer,* he could by no means recommend their 
explanations, without forfeiting his claim to the Charac- 
ter assumed in the Title-Page, of which he is much more 
tenacious than of his reputation as a Poet. 

Although it is so frequent a practice to take the advan- 
tage of public approbation, and raise the price of per- 
formances that have been much encouraged, the Author 
chooses to steer in a quite different channel : it being a 
considerable time since the first Edition sold off, (not- 
withstanding the high price, and the singularity of the 
subject,) he might very justly continue the price; but as it 
deterred a number of the inferior Officers of the sea from 

* Can a Sea-officer be so ignorant as to mistake the names of the 
most common things in a ship ? 



ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION. 

purchasing it, at their repeated requests it has been 
printed now in a smaller Edition : at the same time, the 
Author is sorry to observe, that the gentlemen of the sea, 
for whose entertainment it was chiefly calculated, have 
hardly made one-tenth of the purchasers. 



ADVERTISEMENT TO THE THIRD EDITION, 



Dated from Somerset House, October 1 ? 17 6*9, the Year in 
which Falconer sailed for India. 

The favourable reception which this performance has 
hitherto met with from the Public, has encouraged the 
Author to give it a strict and thorough revision ; in the 
course of which, he flatters himself, it will be found to 
have received very considerable improvements. 



GENERAL CONTENTS OF THE POEM. 



page 
Introduction l — 6 

FIRST CANTO. .... 9 

Character of Albert 15 

ofRodmond 16 

ofArion ,18 

of Palemon 20 

Description of Noon, during a Calm 24 

Palemon's History 26 

Description of a Sun-set in the Archipelago .... 38 

■ of Morning .4 42 

of the Ship, as seen by the Inhabitants of Candia, 

on her leaving the Harbour 43 

SECOND CANTO 51 

Description of a Water Spout .53 

of a dying Dolphin . 55 

of a threatening Sky 58 

The Squall 59 

Ship driven out of her Course 61 

Portentous Sun-set 64 

Different Opinions of the Officers 65 

Four Seamen lost 67 

A tremendous Sea shipped 71 

The Well sounded 72 

Guns thrown overboard 75 

Speeches of the Master, and his Mates, on their alarming 

Situation 79 

Albert's Exhortation 87 

Mizen Mast cut away 94 



GENERAL CONTENTS. 

page 
THIRD CANTO 97 

Ship put before the Wind 100 

Falconera 103 

View of the renowned Cities of Greece .... 105 

Scudding 116 

Day-Break 118 

Lee Shore— St. George's Cliffs 119 

Land of Athens appears 122 

Ship laid broadside to the Shore 123 

She strikes 126 

Occasional Elegy, in which the preceding Narrative is con- 
cluded ........... 140 



*#* The /Egean Sea } or Archipelago, has been divided into 
seven parts: l. The Sea of Crete. 2. The Myrtoan Sea, before 
Peloponnesus and Attica. 3. The Sea of Greece, along the Coast 
of Greece. 4. The Sea of Macedonia. 5. The iEgean Sea pro- 
perly so called, between Euboea and Lemnos. 6. The Icarian Sea, 
towards the Island of Icarus. 7. The Carpathian Sea, and that 
of Rhodes, lying between this Island and that of Crete. The 
Archipelago contains fifty-three Islands. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE VIGNETTES AND PLATES 
IN THIS VOLUME, 

ENGRAVED BY J. FITTLER, R.A.S. 

Marine Engraver to His Majesty ; 
FROM PAINTINGS BY N. POCOCK, ESQ. 

FIRST VIGNETTE 

Represents the Britannia Merchantman as just lanched 
at Deptford, with a distant view of Greenwich. — When 
a Ship is lanched, the Ensign, Jack, and Pendent, are 
always hoisted; the last being displayed from a Staff 
erected in the middle of the Ship. Mr. Pocock's design 
in this View, was to give an exact* Portrait of a Merchant 
Vessel employed in the Levant Trade when Falconer 
wrote. 

SECOND VIGNETTE. 

The Ship unmooring by Moonlight, as described in 
the First Canto, page 41 : 

" All hands unmoor ! proclaims a boisterous cry, 
All hands unmoor ! the caverned rocks reply." 

The Ship is represented with her Fore Topsail loose, 
and the Sheet hauled home, as a Signal to unmoor. On 
the right is part of the town of Candia, and on the left 
the island of Standia, or Dia. This view is taken from 
the westward. 

* The Vessels, then trading to the Levant, were not limited as to Bur- 
then, or Guns, except a certain number of about 300 tons, and 18 Guns, 
that were called Act Ships. Falconer has described the Britannia 
more like a Frigate. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. 

The following plan of unmooring, as being the most 
convenient and expeditious, is used by Merchant Ships ; 
when, as is represented, a Windlass is made use of in 
preference to a Capstern. 

The Leeward Anchor is first raised from the ground by 
the Buoy Rope, which is taken in at the Bow, or Stern 
of the Long Boat, over a roller : having tackles attached 
to it, the Boat's Crew are enabled to drag the Anchor 
from its hold, and to lift it so far from the ground, that, 
when those on board heave on the Cable at the Windlass, 
the Boat is drawn with the Anchor to the Ship : she is 
then unmoored^ and said to ride at single anchor. 

Men of War, on the contrary, get up their Anchor by 
veering out one Cable, and heaving upon the other. Hav- 
ing men enough to attend to both Cables, and by using 
the Capstern, they are enabled to do this with celerity : 
this is called Veering, and Heaving. When the Ship is 
veered so far as to be immediately over the Anchor, it is 
hove up ; they then again heave a head upon the Cable 
the Ship still rides by, until, as is termed, She is short a 
peak, or a stay peak (i. e. when the Cable makes an angle 
in a direction with the Ship's stays:) the Topsails are 
then sheeted home, hoisted, and braced ; in order to cast 
clear of any Ship that may be requisite, before the An- 
chor is weighed, and the Ship is loosed from her hold; 
and this is termed getting under weigh. 

THIRD VIGNETTE. 

The Water Spout ; as described in the Second Canto, 
(page 53:) 

" When on the larboard Quarter they descry 
A liquid Column towering shoot on high." 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. 

Falconer, whose experience was as great, as his ob- 
servations were keen and accurate, declares that the 
water ascends; and Seamen, who alone see Water Spouts 
as they really are, unaffected by any proximity of land- 
agree as to the truth of this opinion. 

FOURTH VIGNETTE. 

The Island of Falconera, ic with rocks and breakers 
bound," as seen from the Ship, (Canto the Third, p. 103 :) 

" When Falconera's rugged cliffs they view, 
Faintly along the larboard bow descried, 
As o'er its mountain tops the lightnings glide ; 
High o'er its summit, through the gloom of Night, 
The glimmering Watch-Tower cast a mournful light :" 

This gives a representation of the Ship, when, having cut 
away her Mizen Mast, and scudding before the wind under 
bare Poles, she rapidly drove close by the rocky shore of 
Falconera; not being able in the least to deviate from 
the Course, which the furious Tempest, and following 
Sea, obliged the crazy Vessel to pursue. This View of 
Falconera is taken from a Drawing, that was lately 
made by Mr. Gell during his Travels in Greece. 

FIFTH VIGNETTE. 

The Gale, and Sea having in some degree subsided, 
Cape Colonna opens in distance ; whilst Arion is seen 
standing in silent agony over his dead friend Palemon. 
(Canto the Third, page 138 :) 

" As thus defaced in death Palemon lay, 
Arion gazed upon the lifeless clay ; 
Transfixed he stood ! with awful terror filled, 
While down his cheek the silent drops distilled :" 



DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. 

FIRST PLATE. 

View of the Britannia on leaving Candia, (Canto the 

First, page 43:) 

" Majestically slow before the Breeze 
She moved triumphant o'er the yielding Seas :" 

Scene, Sunrise, with an hazy Morning: the Ship is 
seen from the westward, her Sails all set, with a very- 
light breeze ; to the NE. appears the Isle of Standia, 
and to the right Candia. 

SECOND PLATE. 

The Ship having reefed Topsails a second time, they are 

left on the Cap to await the coming of a tremendous 

Squall: (Canto the Second, page 58:) 

" Their Task above thus finished, they descend, 
And vigilant th* approaching Squall attend : 
It comes resistless ! and with foaming sweep 
Upturns the whitening surface of the Deep :" 

This throws the Vessel on her side, and splits the Main- 
sail ; the Mizen is hauled up, the Helm a-weather, and the 
Ship is veering from the Wind. 

THIRD PLATE. 

I am unable to notice this View without expressing my 

admiration at the force and accuracy of its composition : 

(Canto the Third, page 127 :) 

" Ah Heaven ! — behold her crashing ribs divide ! 
She loosens, parts, and spreads in ruin o'er the Tide." 

The Ship, having hauled to the wind with her head to the 
westward, is dismasted, and wrecked a little to the east- 
ward of Cape Colonna ; of which a correct View is now 
for the first time given from a Drawing by Mr. Gell : 

" Where marble columns, long by time defaced, 
Moss covered on the lofty Cape are placed." 

The height of this Cape has not hitherto been sufficiently 
expressed. 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 



OF 



WILLIAM FALCONER. 



BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR 



OF 



WILLIAM FALCONER. 



I f the Lives of literary men afford but scanty ma- 
terials to their Biographer, the deficiency does not 
arise from a want of interesting events, since the 
natural progress of Genius must be always interest- 
ing; but because the events that happened were 
not deemed of sufficient importance to be preserved, 
nor the progress of genius towards maturity of suf- 
ficient consequence to be described, until Death 
had repressed the malevolence of Envy, and thus 
overcome, what Beattie* so admirably termed, 
the unconquerable bar of Poverty. 

It, on this account, becomes the duty of Literary 
Men, who have published works of sufficient im- 
portance to attract public notice, to bequeath as a 
kind of legacy to their Country, an account of their 
lives and writings, and of the gradual progress of 
their minds : nor should any writer be taxed with 

* Minstrel. 



XIV BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

vanity* for doing this; since it would tend to en- 
large our knowledge of an history, of all others the 
most interesting — the history of the human mind. 
Memoirs of living Authors, published by persons 
who have never lived in habits of intimacy with 
them, are of little service to the cause of Literature, 
unless Minutes of the leading particulars in each 
Life are furnished by the individuals themselves : 
for otherwise, a scope is afforded to wound the feel- 
ings of many a worthy man, and to increase the 
flippant conceit of many a successful Impostor. 
Splenetic Curiosity frequently devours, what Prin- 
ciple, and Honour should lead men to reject with 
indignation. Biography in the present day affords 
only a suspicious, and a very questionable mode 
of information ; whilst many a Character, owing 
to the strange state in which this branch of 
Literature f is suffered to remain, will descend to 
Posterity, so changed from the original, that all 
deductions which the Historian, or Critic, may draw 
from a consideration of it, must necessarily prove 
defective. 

* Ac plerique suam ipsi vitam narrare, Jiduciam potius mormn, 
quam arrogantiam arbitrati sunt. (Tacitus Vita Agric.) 

f It behoves the Royal, and Antiquarian Societies, and also the Royal 
Academy, to procure from the relatives of any deceased Associate, or 
Member of celebrity, a biographical Memoir of his literary Life, which 
should be regularly published in their Transactions. 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XV 

I had long sought in vain to procure any authen- 
tic materials, however scanty, for a Biographical 
Memoir of poor Falconer, when I fortunately 
met a shipmate of his, Governor Hunter, at the 
house of an ingenious Highlander.* With the 
natural cordiality of a seaman, Mr. Hunter 
communicated to me all the information he could 
remember ; and this was also increased by frequent 
conversations which I enjoyed with that gallant 
veteran his brother, Lieutenant Hunter of Green- 
wich Hospital : but for these gentlemen, the little 
that has survived respecting Falconer, would have 
perished ; and even this, owing to the years that 
have elapsed since the loss of the Aurora, must 
necessarily be scanty. 

Mr. William Falconer was born about the 
year 1730, and was the son of a poor but indus- 
trious barber at Edinburgh ; who, like Fielding's 
celebrated Partridge, possessed considerable talents 
and humour, and maintained a large family by his 
industry. It is remarkable that all his children, 
with the sole exception of our Author, were either 
deaf or dumb: Falconer himself mentioned this 
singular circumstance to Captain Hunter, when 
they were shipmates together ; and " I had after- 

* John M'Arthur, Esq. of York Place, a literary and naval cha- 
racter of considerable eminence. 



XVI BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

wards/' adds that officer, " an opportunity of being 
convinced of its truth ; when, long after the com- 
mencement of my acquaintance with him, I met 
two of his family labouring under these infirmities 
in the Poor-house at Edinburgh, where they conti- 
nued until their death." 

Poverty in Scotland is never depressed by igno- 
rance, or a want of religious principles : Falconer 
therefore, though poor, had a proper bias given to 
his mind, from the first dawn of its intellectual 
powers ; and it was this bias, impelled by the energy 
of his genius, which enabled him without any fur- 
ther education, to reach the goal of literary fame. 
When very young he entered on board a merchant 
vessel at Leith, and therein served his apprentice- 
ship. We afterwards find him in the capacity of a 
servant to Campbell, the Author of Lexiphanes, 
when Purser of a ship. This officer, according 
to Dr. Currie,* delighted in improving the 
mind of our young Seaman; and afterwards, 
when he had acquired celebrity, this early Patron 
felt a pride in boasting of his scholar. Probably 
from the interest of this master, Falconer was 

* Edition of Burn's Works, vol. ii. p. 283, second edition. It is sin- 
gular that the Surgeon of a man; of war who gave this information to 
Dr. Curiue in 1777, should afterwards experience the fate of Falconer, 
and be shipwrecked on the Coast of Africa, 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XV11 

afterwards made second Mate of a Vessel employed 
in the Levant trade, which was * shipwrecked 
during her passage from Alexandria to Venice. 
Only three of the crew survived; and from this 
melancholy event, calculated to make a lasting im- 
pression on his mind, and which seemed, as it were, 
a foretaste of the dreadful fate he would one day 
endure ; our Poet afterwards drew the outline, and 
characters of one of the finest Poems in our 
language. 

At this distance of time it is impossible to disco- 
ver the friends who, at so critical a juncture, fostered 
the hopes, and relieved the necessities of our ship- 
wrecked Mariner ; all that I can collect for certain 
is, that Falconer continued in the merchant ser- 
vice until he had gained the patronage of his Royal 
Highness Edward Duke of York,, by dedicating 
to him the inimitable poem of The Shipwreck 
in the spring of 1762. Previous, however, to this, 
Falconer had tried the strength of his natural 
talent; and, so early as the year 1751, appeared 
among the poets of his country to lament the 
death of Frederick Prince of Wales: from 
this period, to the publication of his great work, 
he occasionally relieved, and strengthened his mind 
by literary occupation. 

* I have not been able to ascertain the date of this event. 
b 



XVlll BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

Of this first poetical effort I can only observe,, 
that it contained great faults, with much promise 
of future excellence, when the style and ideas of its 
Author had become chastened by the perusal of 
classic writers: the following are some of the best 
lines : 

" Oh bear me to some awful silent glade, 

"Where Cedars form an unremitting shade ; 

Where never track of human feet was known, 

Where never cheerful light of Phoebus shone; 

Where some unhappy Wretch, aye, mourns his doom, 

Deep Melancholy wandering through the gloom ; 

Where Solitude, and Meditation roam, 

And where no dawning glimpse of Hope can come: 

Place me in such an unfrequented Shade 

To speak to none but with the mighty Dead" — 

This Poem was printed at Edinburgh, and is thus 
alluded to at the close of the third Canto in the 
second Edition # of the Shipwreck: 

" Thou who hast taught the tragic Harp to mourn, 
In early youth, o'er Royal Frederick's urn." 

However unsuccessful this attempt might have 
proved to overcome the natural timidity, or to gra- 
tify the tremulous expectation of a young Author; 
it is natural to suppose, that having advanced thus 
far on his literary career, he would not afterwards 

* In which they were inserted after the tenth line of p. 137. These 
lines did not appear in the third edition, and have been omitted in the 
present one. 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XIX 

extinguish the glowing embers of a genius which 
this attempt had fanned. But where are we to look 
for those sparks, which perhaps were chiefly con- 
fined to himself, or, if communicated, were only 
given to the confined circle in which he moved ? 
The Gentleman's Magazine contains one Poem,* 
which I have the authority of Lieutenant Hunter 
to assign to Falconer. I therefore suspect that 
a few years previous to the publication of The 
Shipwreck, he occasionally sent poetical commu- 
nications to that fashionable repository of literary 
talent ; and am strongly inclined to think, that he 
was the Author of the lines On the uncommon 
scarcity of Poetry in that Magazine, signed J. W. 
a Sailor, as also of The description of a ninety 
gun Ship, in a subsequent volume, which had no 
signature. 

In the first, which appeared in the Magazine for 
March 1756, how strikingly characteristic of Fal- 
coner is the following passage : 

" Yet what avails the smiles of lovely Maids, 
Or vernal Suns that glad the flowery Glades; 
The Wood's green foliage, or the varying Scene 
Of Fields, of Lawns, and gliding Streams between j 
What, to the Wretch whom harder Fates ordain 
Through the long year to plough the stormy Main ? 

* The Chaplain's Petition to the Lieutenants in the Ward Room. 
{Gent. Mag. 1758, p. 371.) 



XX BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

No murmuring Streams, no sound of distant Sheep, 
Or song of Birds invite his eyes to sleep ; 
By Toil exhausted, when he sinks to rest, 
Beneath his Sun-burnt head no flowers are prest ; 
Down on the Deck his fainting limbs are laid, 
No spreading Trees dispense tbeir cooling shade ; 
No Zephyrs round his aching temples play, 
No fragrant Breezes noxious heats allay ; 
The rude rough Wind which stern JEolus sends, 
Drives on in blasts, and, while it cools, offends : 
He wakes ; but hears no music from the Grove, 
No varied Landscape courts his eye to rove : 
O'er the wide Main he looks to distant Skies, 
Where nought but Waves on rolling Waves arise." 

Many of these expressions are exactly couched in 
the language of Falconer, and the same style 
of complaint prevails, that is visible throughout 
the Shipwreck : yet if the reader can have any 
doubt respecting my opinion in this respect, he 
will surely agree with me in assigning to Falconer 
The Description of a Ninety Gun Ship, inserted in 
the Magazine for May 1759- I can only subjoin a 
brief extract : 

" Lavish in wealth, luxuriant in her pride, 
Behold the gilded mass exulting ride ! 
Her curious Prow divides the silver Waves, 
In the salt ooze her radiant sides she laves : 
From Stem, to Stern, her wonderous length survey, 
Rising a beauteous Venus from the Sea! 
Her Stem, with naval drapery engraved, 
Shewed mimic Warriors who the Tempest braved ; 
Whose visage fierce defied the lashing Surge, 
Of Gallic pride the emblematic scourge. . . 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XXI 

. . . But leaving feigned armaments, behold ! 
Eight hundred Youths, of heart and sinew bold, 
Mount up her Shrouds, or to her Tops ascend; 
Some haul her Braces, some her Foresail bend." 



The first lines exactly correspond with the descrip- 
tion of the carved work of the merchant Vessel at 
the close of the first Canto ; and the remainder are 
technical terms, which Falconer alone is cele- 
brated for having rendered harmonious. 

But if we have to lament the loss of many of 
Falconer's Minor Poems, I may also express my 
astonishment at the uncertainty which still prevails 
respecting the real Author of Cease rude Boreas : 
that it was not written by G. A. Steevens there 
can be but little doubt ; he was neither versed in 
the science, nor in the terms of Navigation. It has 
long been my opinion, and that of many other 
persons, that this Ode was either composed by 
Falconer, or by another Naval Poet who now is 
scarcely known out of the profession, Captain Tho al- 
so n, # the celebrated, yet anonymous Author of 

* A Life of this Officer appeared in the Naval Chronicle, (vol. vi. 
p. 237. and vol.vii. p. 93.) He was born at Hull in Yorkshire, and re- 
ceived his education from Dr. Cox at Hampstead. Sir HomePopham, 
and Sir T. B. Thompson, were brought up under him. He died 
Commander of the Grampus off the Coast of Africa, January 17, 1786. 
Captain Thomson was the Author of The Top Sails shiver in the Windy 
written about 1780; and of Loose every Sail to the Br eeze>— Behold 



XX11 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

many Sea Songs. Some naval officers are of opinion 
that this Ode, however sublime, is not sufficiently 
correct in the terms of Navigation to be assigned 
to so able a seaman as Falconer : he might not 
however in these lines have introduced the nicety of 
that science in so great a degree as he has done in 
the Shipwreck : thus far, at least, is certain ; 
that he used to repeat with particular pleasure to 
his friends, some lines of a similar Poem which had 
then appeared, and always considered The Storm as 
a sublime subject for such a composition. 

Before I conclude the account of Falconer's 
literary life, previous to the year 1762, I beg leave 
to present the reader with the following excellent 
little Poem, descriptive of the abode and senti- 
ments of a Midshipman. It was originally called by 
our Author simply The Midshipman; which name 
has since been lost in the more technical one of 
Orlop, or the Deck immediately over the Hold : 
where, far removed from the light of day, and at a 
considerable distance below the surface of the 



upon the gallant Wave, &c. He published, in 1764, a Poem called the 
Soldier; in 1765, the Courtezan, a Poem, and the Demirep; in 1766, 
his Sailor' 's Letters ; in 1776, an edition of Whitehead's, and also of 
Andrew Marvel's Works, and a humourous Poem called the Electric 
Eel; in 1778, with a Collection of Poems called the Muse's Mirror. 
He was also the Author of many dramatic Pieces; and in 1773, with, 
Mr. John Macmillan, began the Westminster Magazine, 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XX1U 

water, the Cabins, or Births of the Midshipmen 
are placed : 

THE MIDSHIPMAN. 

Aid me, kind Muse ! so whimsical a Theme, 
No Poet ever yet pursued for Fame; 
Boldly I venture on a Naval Scene, 
Nor fear the Critic's frown, the Pedant's spleen : 
Sons of the Ocean, we their rules disdain, 
Our bosom's honest, and our style is plain : 
Let Homer's heroes, and his gods, delight, 
Let Milton with infernal legions fight ; 
His favourite Warrior, polished Virgil show; 
With love, and wine, luxurious Horace glow — 
Be such their subjects ; I another choose, 
As yet neglected by the laughing Muse. 

Deep in that Fabric, where Britannia boasts 
O'er Seas to waft her thunder, and her hosts, 
A Cavern lies ! unknown to cheering day ; 
Where one small Taper lends a feeble ray : 
Where wild Disorder holds her wanton reign, 
And careless Mortals frolic in her train — 
Bending beneath a Hammock's friendly shade, 
See iEscuLAPius all in arms display'd ; 
In his right hand th' impending steel he holds, 
The other, round the trembling victim folds ; 
His gaping Myrmidon the deed attends, 
Whilst in the pot the crimson stream descends ; 
Unawed young Galen bears the hostile brunt, 
Pills in his rear, and Cullen in his front ; 
Whilst, mustered round the medicinal pile, 
Death's grim militia stand in rank, and file. 

In neighbouring Mansions, lo ! what clouds arise, 
It half conceals its Owner from our eyes; 
One penny light with feeble lustre shines, 
To prove the Mid in high Olympus dines j 



XXIV BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

Let us approach — the preparation view ! 

A Cockpit Beau is surely something new: 

To him Japan her varnished joys denies ; 

Nor bloom for him the sweets of Eastern skies : 

His rugged limbs no lofty Mirror shows, 

Nor tender Couch invites him to repose : 

A pigmy glass upon his Toilet stands, 

Crack'd o'er, and o'er, by awkward clumsy hands ; 

Chesterfield's page polite, the Seaman's Guide, 

An half-eat biscuit, Congreve's Mourning Bride, 

Bestrewed with powder, in confusion lie, 

And form a chaos to th' intruding eye — 

At length this Meteor of an hour is drest, 

And rises an Adonis from his Chest : 

Cautious he treads, least some unlucky slip 

Defiles his cloaths with Burgou, or with Flip : 

These rocks escaped, arrives in statu quo; 

Bows ; dines and bows ; then sinks again below. 

Not far from hence a joyous Group are met, 
For social mirth, and sportive pastime set ; 
In cheering Grog the rapid course goes round, 
And not a care in all the circle's found : 
Promotion, Mess-Debts, absent Friends, and Love 
Inspired by Hope, in turn their topics prove: 
To proud Superiors then, they each look up, 
And curse all Discipline in ample cup. 

Hark ! yonder voice in hollow murmur swells ; 
Hark! yonder voice the Mid to duty calls ! 
Thus summoned by the Gods, he deigns to go, 
But first makes known his Consequence below : 
At Slavery rails, scorns lawless Sway to Hell, 
And damns the power allowed a white lapel : 
Vows that he's free ! — to stoop, to cringe disdains- 
Ascends the Ladder, and resumes his Chains. 

In canvassed Birth, profoundly deep in thought, 
His busy mind with Sines, and Tangents, fraught, 
A Mid reclines ! — in calculation lost ! 
His efforts still by some intruder crost : 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XXV 

Now to the Longitude's vast height he soars, 

And now formation of Lapscous explores ; 

Now o'er a field of Logarithms bends, 

And now, to make a Pudding he pretends : 

At once the Sage, the Hero, and the Cook, 

He weilds the Sword, the Saucepan, and the Book. 

Opposed to him a sprightly Mess-mate lolls, 

Declaims with Garrick, or with Shuter drolls ; 

Sometimes his breast great Cato's virtue warms, 

And then his task the gay Lothario charms; 

Cleone's grief his tragic feelings wake, 

With Richard's pangs th'ORLOPiAN Cavern shake! 

No more the Mess for other joys repine, 

When Pea- Soup entering shews 'tis time to dine. 

But think not meanly of this humble Seat, 
Whence sprung the Guardians of the British Fleet : 
Revere the Sacred Spot, however low, 
Which formed to Martial acts — an Hawke ! an Howe !* 



We now approach the most important event 
in the literary life of Falconer ; who, like both 
his friends, Captain, and Lieutenant Hunter, 
urged on his course through every threatening 
obstacle : without becoming dependent on any as- 
sistance but that of Providence, he emerged at length 
from obscurity, and gained the utmost summit of 
his ambition. The first edition of the Shipwreck 
was printed in quarto by Millar, in May 1762; 
and was dedicated to His Royal Highness Edward 

* CaptainHowE, in 1755, commanded the Alcide in a memorable 
action with the Lys. He also led the van in the Magnanime, 1757, 
under Admiral Knowles, in the attack on Aix. 



XXVI BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

Duke of York, who then had hoisted his Flag, as 
Rear-Admiral of the Blue, on board the Princess 
Amelia of 80 guns; attached to the Fleet under 
Sir Edward Hawke. This Fleet was sent after 
M. de Tern ay, and afterwards cruised off the Coast 
of France. The Poem succeeded from the mo- 
ment it appeared ; its Author was deservedly called 
a second Homer; and the Duke of York, eager 
to honour Falconer with every possible mark of 
his favour, advised him to quit the Merchant Ser- 
vice for the Royal Navy: accordingly before the 
summer had elapsed, he was rated a Midshipman 
on board Sir Edward Hawke's Ship, the Royal 
George.* 

During the same year the following opinion of 
the Shipwreck was delivered by a celebrated 
Literary Journal ; which, as it considerably tended 
to increase the fame of Falconer, deserves men- 
tion in this Memoir : 

" It has frequently been observed, that true 
Genius will surmount every obstacle which opposes 
its exertion : how unfavourable soever the situation 
of a Seaman may be thought to the Poet, certain 

* It was in this Ship that Governor Hunter, then a Midshipman, 
commenced an acquaintance with Falconer, which continued until 
his death : being both of them from the same part of Scotland, their 
friendship, and intimacy soon increased. 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XXV11 

it is the two characters are not incompatible ; for 
none but an able Sailor could give so didactic an 
account, and so accurate a description of the 
Voyage and catastrophe here related ; and none 
but a particular favourite of the Muses could have 
embellished both with equal harmony of numbers, 
and strength of imagery. 

" The main subject of the Poem is the loss of the 
Ship Britannia, a Merchantman, bound from 
Alexandria to Venice, which touched at the 
Island of Candia ; whence proceeding on her 
Voyage, she met with a violent Storm that drove 
her on the Coasts of Greece, where she suffered 
shipwreck near Cape Colonne ; three only of the 
Crew being left alive. 

" The Ship putting to sea from the Port of Can- 
dia, the Poet takes an opportunity of making 
several beautiful marine descriptions ; such as the 
prospect of the Shore 5 a shoal of Dolphins; a 
Water-Spout; the method of taking an Azimuth; 
and working the Ship. In the Second Canto, the 
Ship having cleared the Land, the Storm begins; 
and with it the consultation of the Pilots, and ope- 
rations of the Seamen; all which the Poet has 
described with an amazing minuteness, and has 
found means to reduce the several technical terms 
pf the marine, into smooth and harmonious numbers. 



XXVlll BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

Homer has been admired, by some, for reducing 
a Catalogue of Ships into tolerably flowing verse ; 
but who, except a poetical Sailor, the nursling of 
Apollo, educated by Neptcne, would ever have 
thought of versifying his own sea-language ? what 
other Poet would ever have dreamt o£ Reef -Tackles, 
Haliards, Clue-garnets, Bunt-lines, Lashings, La- 
niards, and fifty other terms equally obnoxious to 
the soft Sing-Song of modern poetasters. 

" Many of his descriptions are not inferior to any 
thing in the JEneid ; many passages in the third 
and fifth books of which, our Author has had in 
view : they have not suffered by his imitation ; and 
his Pilot appears to much greater advantage than 
the Palinurus of Virgil. 

" Nor is the Poet's talent confined to the de- 
scription of inanimate Scenes : he relates, and be- 
wails, the untimely fate of his Companions in the 
most animated and pathetic strains. The close of 
the Master's address to the Seamen, in the time of 
their greatest danger, is noble and philosophical. 
It is impossible to read the circumstantial account 
of the unfortunate end of the Ship's Crew, without 
being deeply affected by the Tale, and charmed 
with the manner of the # relation." 

The beauty of this Poem may perhaps appear in 
* Monthly Review, vol.xxvii. p. 197. 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XXIX 

a still more favourable light to the learned reader, 
if I subjoin the following passages from the First 
Canto, which the taste of an honourable, and classic 
Native of Ireland has lately clothed in Virgilian 
verse : 

" If e'er with trembling Hope I fondty stray'd." 

(Introduction, Canto I. p. 2, 1. 9.) 

" Si quondam, speransque simul trepidusque, vagabar, 
Vitas mane novo, veslris impune sub umbris, 
Aure bibens citharce suspiria suave dolentis, 
(Nescio qua, mcestd raptus dulcedine) mollesve 
lllecebras vocum, dum conscia sylva susurrus 
Elysios dedit — per inania murmur a Venii 
Aerias querulo sonitu verrentia chordas, 
Per Fluctum, cui longa volumina rupe sub ista 
Spumea vis torquet, rejluoque immurmurat cestu, 
Tendite op em, vivisque ardere color ibus insit 
Carminibus; — summum, et miser abile pignus amoris! 
Sit desiderio licitum plorarejideli 
Mille vice casus, et naufragafata per undas." 

" The Vessel parted on the falling Tide."— (P, 31, 1. 18.) 

" Jamque Ratis, pelagi sensim refluentibus undis, 
Labitur e Portu, nee deerat amoribus hora. 
Nox tacita incedit, Thamesinque argentea veste 
Luna legit ; mediis spesferve! anhela tenebris 
Noctumam explorasse viam, et me reddit amata? 
Virginis in gremium ; vestigia nota per aures 
lnstrepuere; venit, venit ipsa Puellaf Jidelem 
Fertur in amplexum! at quo? vis, aut mellea lingua: 
Gratia delicias, et matua gaudia dicat ? 
Vos, quibus ingenuo mollita Cupidine Jiammam 
Cordajovent, tenuesque animi sensere tumultus, 
Cum tremula, suavique simul, for midine languet 
Ebria mens, nimidqtie liquescit imagine pectus, 






XXX BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

Dicite, (nam scitis) quce llandimenta per omnes 
Tuncfiuitant nervos, qucefurtim infusa vagantes 
Alia domant sensus oblivia, dura prece blanda 
SuadetAmor, magic&que animam dulcedine solvit. 

" Now Morn with gradual pace advanced on high."— (P. 42. 1.3.) 

Nunc matutinos oriens Aurora vapor es 
Luce nova tingit, dubiique crepuscula cali ; 
Non pompd, et radiis induta superbit, at instat 
Frontem horrenda minis, torvisque obducta tenebris." 

The elegant manner in which these lines are 
rendered into Latin, gives a new and an additional 
effect to the poetry of the Shipwreck ; and will 
prove, even to the pedant, that the distance between 
Virgil, and Falconer, is not so great as he may 
have imagined. 

The Poem of the Shipwreck is of inestimable 
value to this Country, since it contains within itself 
the rudiments of Navigation : if not sufficient to 
form a complete Seaman, it may certainly be con- 
sidered as the Grammar of his professional Sci- 
ence. I have heard many experienced officers 
declare, that the rules and maxims delivered in 
this Poem, for the conduct of a Ship in the most 
perilous emergency, form the best, indeed the only 
opinions which a skilful Mariner should adopt. 
We possess, therefore, a Poem not only eminent for 
its sublimity, and pathos, but for an harmonious 
poetic assemblage of technical terms, and maxims, 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XXXI 

used in Navigation ; which a young Sailor may 
easily commit to memory; and also, with these, 
such scientific principles, as will enable him to lay a 
sound foundation for his future professional skill 
and judgment. We should, therefore, as Britons, 
respect this Poem as the composition of a Naval 
Sibyl ; and its three Cantos are the more valuable, 
since our Author did not live to enrich his Country 
with any similar productions. 

At the Peace of 1763, the Royal George was 
paid off; and Falconer now added another zeal- 
ous and benevolent character to the number of his 
friends, in the person of Mr. William # Hunter, 
brother to his Shipmate, who at the same time was 
also paid off in the Sutherland. Previous to the 
Peace, the Duke of York had embarked on board 
the Centurion, with Commodore Harrison, for 
the Mediterranean ; on which occasion Falconer 
published an f Ode, entitled, On the Duke of York's 
second departure from England as Rear -Admiral. 
" He composed it," says Governor Hunter, 
" during an occasional absence from his messmates, 
when he retired into a small space formed between 
the cable tiers, and the Ship's side." In this com- 
position, he had Dryden's Ode to Saint Cecilia 

* Now one of the Officers in Greenwich Hospital. 
■f* The reader will find a severe Critique on this Poem in the Critical 
Review, written by Falconer. 



XXXU BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

in view; and like him, with all the enthusiasm of a 
Poet, has made a demigod of his Hero. The con- 
clusion is not unworthy even of Dryden : 

" Nor thou, illustrious Chief ! refuse 
The incense of a Nautic Muse ! 
For ah ! to whom shall Neptune's sons complain, 
But him whose arms unrivalled rule the Main ? 
Deep on my grateful breast 
Thy favour is imprest ; 
No happy son of wealth or fame 
To court a royal Patron came ; 
A hapless Youth ! whose vital page 
Was one sad lengthened Tale of woe; 

Where ruthless Fate, impelling tides of rage, 
Bad wave on wave in dire succession flow ; 
To glittering stars, and titled names unknown, 
Preferred his suit to thee alone : 
The Tale your sacred pity moved, 
You felt, consented, and approved. 
Then touch my Strings, ye blest Pierian Choir ! 

Exalt to rapture every happy line, 
My bosom kindle with Promethean fire, 
And swell each note with energy divine : 
No more to plaintive sounds of woe 
Let the vocal numbers flow ; 
Perhaps the Chief to whom I sing, 
May yet ordain auspicious days 
To wake the Lyre with nobler lays, 
And tune to War the nervous string. 
For who, untaught in Neptune's School, 

Though all the powers of Genius he possess, 
Though disciplined by classic rule ; 
With daring pencil can display 
The Fight, that thunders on the watery way, 
And all its horrid incidents express ? 
To Him, my Muse, these warlike strains belong, 
Source of my Hope, and Patron of thy Song ! 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XXX1H 

As Falconer wanted much of that comple- 
mentary time of service, which qualifies an officer to 
attend the customary examination for a Lieutenant's 
commission, his friends advised him to exchange the 
military, for the civil line in the royal navy ; and ac- 
cordingly, in the course of the said year, 1763, he was 
appointed Purser of the Glory # Frigate, 32 guns. 
The subsequent death of the gallant Duke of York 
at Monacoa on the 17th of September, 1767, 
though felt by all the nation, was more particularly 
a severe loss to Falconer ; whose welfare, owing to 
this melancholy event, became again precarious. His 
literary fame, however, was established; some few 
friends, among whom the Hunters took the lead, 
still remained ; and he accordingly endeavoured to 
dry the tear, which the memory of his royal Patron 
frequently called forth, by indulging in the vision 
of Hope that was still prolonged : nor did Provi- 
dence in this emergency forsake him. Soon after his 
appointment to the Glory, Falconer had mar- 
ried a young lady of the name of Hicks, who I 
believe is still living; but where, I have hitherto 
been unable to discover. She probably possesses 
not only a miniature of her husband, but many 
manuscripts and letters, which would tend to throw 

* Commanded in 1770 by the Hon. Captain John Ruthven: she 
was afterwards called the Apollo. 



XXXIV BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

additional light on his biography. Miss Hicks's 
father was Surgeon of Sheerness Yard, and enjoyed 
considerable talents for poetry, Mrs. Falconer 
is described to me as displaying keen abilities ; and 
that it was the lustre of her mind, rather than of her 
person, which attracted and confirmed the affection 
of her husband: his feelings, at this period, are 
expressed in a little # Ballad, styled the Fond 
Lover: 

" A Nymph of ev'ry charm possessed 

That native Virtue gives, 
Within my bosom all confessed 

In bright idea lives : 
For her my trembling numbers play 

Along the pathless Deep ; 
While sadly social with my lay 

The Winds in concert weep. 

If Beauty's sacred influence charms 

The rage of adverse Fate ; 
Say, why the pleasing soft alarms 

Such cruel pangs create ? 
Since all her thoughts by sensa refined 

Unartful Truth express, 
Say, wherefore Sense and Truth are joined 

To give my soul distress." &c. 

Falconer's principal amusement always con- 
sisted in literary occupation ; and when the Glory 
was laid up in ordinary at Chatham, Commissioner 

* There is also printed by him an Address to Miranda. 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XXXV 

Hanway, brother to the celebrated Jonas Han- 
way,, became delighted with the genius +of its 
Purser. The Captain's cabin was ordered to be 
fitted up with a stove, and with every addition of 
comfort that could be procured; in order that 
Falconer might thus be enabled to enjoy his 
favourite propensity, without either molestation or 
expence. How long he continued in this retreat is 
uncertain ; for here again my information fails me. 
In this hermitage he finished his celebrated Universal 
Dictionary of the Marine ; a work that had engaged 
his utmost application for some years. The under- 
taking was first suggested to him by George Lewis 
Scott, Esq. and its great utility was acknowledged 
by Sir Edward Hawke, and other professional 
men in the Navy. In a letter which Falconer re- 
ceived from the celebrated Du Hamel, his opinion 
of it was thus decidedly given — Ce livre manquoit 
absolument ; celui qui a ete imprime en Hollande, et 
qui a eu un debit considerable, est trh-imparfait ; 
celui de M. Saverien est encore plus mauvais. 
From the Glory, Falconer was appointed to 
the # Sw t iftsure. 

In 1764 he published a new edition of his Poem., 
in octavo, corrected and enlarged ; and being by 

* Governor Hunter was in doubt whether it was the Swiftsure, 
or the Warspight ; from some MS. I have seen, I have preferred the 
former Ship, and can fix the date of the appointment to the year 1767. 



XXXVI BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

gratitude, as well as principle, attached to the party 
of the King's Friends, he printed about the year 
1765, a political Satire on Lord Chatham, Wilkes, 
and Churchill, which served as a powerful anti- 
dote to the Rosciad: many of the lines are con- 
ceived with all the energy of Juvenal : 

" Nor shall umanly Terror now controul 
The strong resentment struggling in her soul ; 
While Indignation with resistless Strain 
Pours her full deluge through each swelling vein." 

The Universal Dictionary of the Marine was not 
printed until 1769; after he had left his naval 
retreat at Chatham, and had been obliged to take 
up his abode in a garret in the metropolis : where I 
fear he struggled for a considerable time against 
the res angusta domus. His spirits, however, and 
the attentions of an affectionate partner ; with the 
chance rencounter of some old messmates ; enabled 
him to weather those breakers which the great 
Ocean of Life so frequently presents. Among other 
resources he derived a pittance from writing in the 
Critical Review, under his countryman Mallet ; 
and, at one time, received proposals from Mr. 
Murray,* to be admitted as a partner in the line 
of business, which that respectable bookseller after- 
wards established. 

* Mr. John M'Murray, born at Edinburgh, was originally an 
Officer in the Honourable Corps of Marines, under the patronage of 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XXXVll 

A third edition of the Shipwreck was loudly 
called for at the beginning of the year 1769: con- 
siderable improvements, and additions, had been 
prepared by our Author; but I am induced to 

Sir George Yonge, Bart. The following letter to Falconer gives an 
account of his first commencement of business as a Bookseller. Some 
lines addressed by Falconer to his friend Mr. M'Murray, were in- 
tended to be prefixed to the third edition of the Shipwreck ; but were 
omitted amidst the hurry of the Author on leaving England, for India. 

To Mr. William Falconer, now at Dover. 
Dear Will Brompton, Kent, 16th Oct. 1768. 

Since I saw you I have had the intention of embarking in a scheme 
that I think will prove successful, and in the progress of which I had 
an eye towards your participating. Mr. Sandbv, Bookseller, opposite 
St. Dunstan's Church, has entered into Company with Snow and 
Denne, Bankers. I was introduced to this gentleman about a week 
ago, upon an advantageous offer of succeeding him in his old business ; 
which, by the advice of my friends, I propose to accept. Now, although 
I have little reason to fear success by myself in this undertaking ; yet I 
think so many additional advantages would accrue to us both,were your 
forces and mine joined, that I cannot help mentioning it to you, and 
making you the offer of entering into Company. He resigns to me the 

lease of the house ; the good-will ; and I only take his bound 

stock, and fixtures, at a fair appraisement, which will not amount to 
much beyond 4C0 I. ; and which, if ever I mean to part with, cannot 
fail to bring in nearly the same sum. The Shop has been long esta- 
blished in the Trade; it retains a good many old Customers: and I am 
to be ushered immediately into public notice by the sale of a new 
edition of Lord Lyttelton's Dialogues ; and afterwards by a like edition 
of his History: these works I shall sell by commission upon a certain 
profit, without risk; and Mr. Sandby has promised to continue 60 me, 
always, his good offices and recommendation. 

These are the general Outlines ; and if you entertain a notion that 
the conjunction will suit you, advise me, and you shall be assumed 



XXXV111 BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

think, that amidst the agitation of his mind on being 
appointed Purser to the Aurora Frigate, Captain 
Lee,* which then was ordered to carry out to India 
Henry Vansittart, Esq.f Luke ScROFTON,Esq. 
and Colonel F. Forde; that Falconer, who also 
had the promise of being their private secretary, 
from the joy of obtaining so lucrative a situation, 
neglected this edition, and left the last alterations to 
his friend Mallet : the inferiority of many passages 

upon equal terms ; for I write to you before the affair is finally settled : 
not that I shall refuse it, if you don't concur, (for I am determined 
upon the trial by myself,) but that I think it will still turn out better 
were we joined; and this consideration alone prompts me to write to 
you. Many Blockheads in the Trade are making fortunes ; and did 
we not succeed as well as they, I think it must be imputed only to 
ourselves. 

Make Mrs. M'Murray's compliments and mine to Mrs. Falconer ; 
we hope she has reaped much benefit from the salt-water bath. Con- 
sider what I have proposed ; and send me your answer soon. Be 
assured in the mean time that I remain, 

Dear Sir, 

Your affectionate and humble Servant, 

JOHN M'MURRAY. 

P. S. My advisers, and directors, in this affair have been, Thomas 
Cumming, Esq. Mr. Arch. Paxton, Mr. Jam. Paterson, of Essex 
House, Messrs. J. and W. Richardson, Printers. These, after delibe- 
rate reflection, have unanimously thought I should accept of Mr. 
Sandby's offer. 

* Mr. Montresser, son of Colonel Montresser, was First 
Lieutenant. 

f One of his sons accompanied him. 



WILLIAM FALCONER. XXXIX 

is strikingly evident. I have endeavoured, with the 
assistance of the first and second editions, to make 
our Author correct himself, and thus to restore the 
purity of the original text, which had become 
strangely impaired ; at the same time being careful 
to preserve all the beauties of the third edition. 

The joy which this appointment gave to the 
friends of Falconer may easily be imagined ; but 
this, alas ! was of short duration: the Aurora sailed 
from England on the 30th of September, 1769; 
and after touching at the Cape, was lost during the 
remainder of the passage. The following Letter* 
from Mr. Hirst, Chaplain to the Commission, is 
the sole account that exists of their proceedings at 
the Cape : 

Cape Town, December 19, 1769. 

" I write this from the Dutch Town at the Cape 
of Good Hope. My last gave you an account of 
our arrival at, and departure from Madeira; and 
this acquaints you that we arrived here the sixth 
instant, from whence, it is imagined, we shall f sail 
the day after to-morrow. I have made many little 
excursions during my residence here, but not far 

* Printed in the third volume of Mr. Duncombe's Collection of 
Letters by Mr. Hughes, and other eminent persons deceased, (p. 137.) 
For further particulars, see vol. ii. p. 254, and vol. iii. p. 132. 

+ They left the Cape on the 27th of December. 



Xl BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

enough into the country to give you much account 
of it; and there is little worth conveying to you 
from hence, unless I could have sent some authentic 
anecdotes of the Aborigines of the Country,, I mean 
the Hottentots ; and they are all shrunk into the 
inland parts, at least two or three hundred miles 
from the Cape. We have seen but three of them 
(all men) since our arrival here ; nor do I recollect 
that I saw more when I was here before. 

" As we are in south latitude, the weather is at 
this time exceeding sultry, so that we are obliged to 
keep under cover great part of the day, the ther- 
mometer being now at 83 degrees; a heat much 
beyond what you generally have in England in 
summer. 

" Yesterday, and the day before, I made one of a 
party with Mr. Vansittart to Bay Falso, about 
twenty English miles from the Cape. We rode 
partly on horseback, and partly in a coach, having 
two of the Governor's coaches and six to attend us. 
Indeed I cannot say too much of the very hospita- 
ble reception we meet with here, owing to the great 
respect which the Dutch Governor and his Council 
shew to Mr. Vansittart. You may be sure this 
circumstance gives me no small pleasure ; as it is a 
proof of the great name, and character, he has in 
India, that even strangers are not unacquainted 



WILLIAM FALCONER. xli 

with it. It has been reported that Cape # Falso is 
a much better situation for a Colony than the place 
which the Dutch have chosen here ; but this is not 
fact, as the hills,, or rather mountains, descend al- 
most to the sea-side, and are so steep and craggy 
as not to admit of cultivation. The Company have 
lately built some store-houses there for the service 
of the shipping in the winter time ; when the winds 
blow so hard in Table Bay, that they cannot with 
safety ride here. It is with some satisfaction I re- 
cognise the view of the Table-land and its environs; 
and am pleased to find the resemblance of my 
viewf of it in 1765, much more strong than I 
thought. If I had more time and less indolence, I 
might perhaps made it less unworthy the acceptance 
of my friends* The Comet which we saw in Eng- 
land approaching to the sun, we saw returning 
from it : I took two observations of its situation in 
the heavens, with respect to the neighbouring fixed 
stars ; and wrote on the occasion a sheet-full, which 
I intended to have sent to my friend Maskelyne 
at Greenwich : but this, as well as many other 

* The Portuguese once took this Cape for the Cape das Aigullhas, 
which lies over against it ; and having found their mistake, they called 
this " Cabo Falso," or the False Cape. 

•f This View of the Cape was taken in 1765, when Mr. Hirst 
returned from India with Mr. Vansittart; and was afterwards 
engraved by Canot in 1766. 



xlii BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

papers, I have either lost or mislaid at sea ; and it 
often happens, as the Earl of Dorset says, that 

" Our paper, pens, and ink, and we, ' 
Are tumbled up and down at Sea." 

We continue to be very harmonious, and conse- 
quently very happy, on board the Aurora. I 
know this will give great pleasure to all Mr. Van's 
real friends, and be the occasion of great chagrin 
and disappointment to all who expected the com- 
mission would be overset by the dissention of the 
Commissioners. God bless you, my dear friend ! 

" Your's ever, 

« W. Hirst." 

The writer of the above letter, Mr. Hirst, was 
Fellow of the Royal Society ; and had been Chap- 
lain on board several of his Majesty's Ships, parti- 
cularly the Hampton Court, when dispatched to 
Lisbon after the earthquake in 1755. In 1759 he 
was Chaplain to the Lenox, and Secretary to 
Rear Admiral Cornish. He made an accurate 
observation of the transit of Venus over the sun on 
June 6, 1761, at the Government House at Ma- 
dras; and at the second transit of Venus, June 3, 
1769, Mr. Hirst was one of the assistants to the 
Astronomer Royal at Greenwich. The Latin 
Ode which Dr. Kirkpatrick addressed to him on 



WILLIAM FALCONER. xliii 

his sailing from England, in the Aurora, is 
subjoined in the notes. 

Various are the reports that have arisen respect- 
ing the loss of the Aurora, which was twice on 
fire before she left the River. Mr. Duncombe ob- 
serves in a note : # " It seems now to be the general 
idea that this unfortunate Ship was burnt. It is 
affirmed that the Supervisors, among other indul- 
gences, had hot suppers ; and every Seaman knows, 
and has experienced, the dangers and accidents 
to which Ships are exposed by fire as well as water, 
even with the utmost care and attention." 

Such has in general been the prevailing idea 
respecting the Aurora: but Mr. Duncombe was 
not aware of the increased attention that would be 
paid by Captain Lee, and his Officers, to the risk 
of losing their Ship by the luxury mentioned. Be- 
sides, such precautions are taken in the f Galley, or 
kitchen-range of a Ship, against fire, that it would 
require more than common carelessness, to produce 
the dreadful event that has been suspected. The 
most probable opinion, and indeed the only one 
which seems to have any foundation, is, that this 
Frigate foundered in the Mosambique Channel. 
Captain Lee, though a stranger f to its navigation, 
would not be dissuaded from attempting it; and it 

* Vol. Hi. p. 136. f Gentleman's Magazine, vol. xli. p. 237. 



xliv BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR OF 

is said that Mr. Vansittart was so averse from 
this rash action, that if an outward hound East- 
Indiaman had been at the Cape, he would have 
quitted the Aurora. To this may be added, that 
on the 19th of November, 1773, a Black was exa- 
mined before the East-India Directors, who af- 
firmed — " that he was one of five persons who had 
been saved from the wreck of the Aurora ; that 
the said Frigate had been cast away on a reef of 
rocks ofTMocoA; that he was two years upon an 
island after he had escaped; and was at length 
miraculously preserved by a country Ship happen- 
ing to touch on that island." 

Such are the principal events respecting Fal- 
coner which I have been able to collect. In his 
Person he was about five feet seven inches in height ; 
of a thin light make, with a dark weather-beaten 
complexion, and rather what is termed hard fea- 
tured ; being considerably marked with the small- 
pox : his hair was of a brownish hue. In point of 
address, his manner was blunt, awkward, and for- 
bidding : but he spoke with great fluency ; and 
his simple yet impressive diction was couched in 
words which reminded his hearers of the terse- 
ness of Swift. Though Falconer possessed a 
warm and friendly disposition, he was fond of 
controversy, and inclined to satire. His obser- 



WILLIAM FALCONER. xlv 

vation was keen, and rapid ; his criticisms on any 
inaccuracy of language, or expression were fre- 
quently severe; yet this severity was always in- 
tended eventually to create mirth, and not by any 
means to shew his own superiority, or to give the 
smallest offence. In his natural temper he was cheer- 
ful, and frequently used to amuse his Messmates 
by composing Acrostics on their favourites; in 
which he particularly excelled. As a professional 
man, he was a thorough Seaman ; and, like most of 
that profession, was kind, generous, and benevolent. 
He often assured Governor Hunter, that his edu- 
cation had been confined merely to reading English, 
writing, and a little arithmetic; notwithstanding 
which he was never at a loss to understand either 
French, Spanish, Italian, or even German. 

In this edition I have employed my utmost dili- 
gence, and latterly amidst distraction, " in sickness, 
and in sorrow/' that I might induce my Countrymen 
to honour the watery Grave of the shipwrecked 
Falconer. I trust the tribute, thus paid to his 
memory, cannot fail of producing the desired ef- 
fect, since through the kindness of Mr. # Bowles, 

* The Notes signed W. L. B. were hints given me by this gentle- 
man; those signed N. P. by Mr. Pocock; and those signed E. D. C. 
by my brother ; for the Italian passages, signed F.D. I am indebted to 
a learned foreigner. I also beg leave to return my thanks to Captain 
Francis Mason of the Rattler Sloop of War, and toHsNRY Streat- 
teild, Esq. of Trinity College, Cambridge. 



Xlvi BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR, &C. 

I have been enabled to employ a kindred genius to 
chaunt, in mournful melody, 

THE DIRGE OF POOR *ARION. 

What pale and bleeding Youth (while the fell Blast 
Howls o'er the Wreck, and fainter sinks the cry 
Of struggling Wretches ere o'erwhelmed they die) 

Yet floats upborne upon the driving Mast ? 

O poor Arion ! has thy sweetest Strain, 
That charm'd old Ocean's wildest solitude, 
At this dread hour his waves dark might subdued ? 

Let Sea-Ma ids thy reclining head sustain ; 

And wipe the blood, and briny drops, that soil 
Thy looks, and give once more thy wreathed Shell 
To ring with melody :— Oh fruitless Toil ! 

Hark ! o'er thy head again the Tempests swell ; 

Hark ! hark again the Storm's black demons yell 
More loud ; the bellowing Deep reclaims his spoil ! 

Peace ! and may weeping Sea-Maids sing thy Knell. 

* Written on the Platform at Portsmouth, April 16, 1803. 



THE j( 

SHIPWRECK, 

IN THREE CANTOS. 

THE TIME EMPLOYED IN THIS POEM, IS ABOUT 
SIX DAYS. 







Old £md Street. 



INTRODUCTION 

TO 

THE POEM. 

YV hile jarring interests wake the World to arms 
And fright the peaceful vale with dire alarms, 
While Albion bids th' avenging thunders roll 
Along her vassal Deep from pole to pole; 
Sick of the scene, where War with ruthless hand 
Spreads desolation o'er the bleeding land, 
Sick of the tumult, where the trumpet's breath 
Bids ruin smile, and drowns the groan of Death ; 
Tis mine, retired beneath this cavern hoar 
That stands all lonely on the sea-beat shore, 
Far other themes of deep distress to sing 
Than ever trembled from the vocal string; 
A scene from dumb Oblivion to restore, 
To Fame unknown, and new to Epic lore : 
Where hostile elements conflicting rise, 
And lawless Surges swell against the skies, 

B 



2 INVOCATION. 

Till Hope expires, and Peril and Dismay 
Wave their black ensigns on the watery way. 

Immortal train ! who guide the maze of song 
To whom all Science, Arts, and Arms belong, 
Who bid the Trumpet of eternal Fame 
Exalt the Warrior's and the Poet's name, 
Or in lamenting Elegies express 
The varied pang of exquisite distress; 
If e'er with trembling hope I fondly strayed 
In life's fair Morn beneath your hallowed shade, 
To hear the sweetly -mournful lute complain 
And melt the heart with ecstasy of pain, 
Or listen to the enchanting voice of Love 
While all Elysium warbled through the grove ; 
Oh ! by the hollow Blast that moans around, 
That sweeps the wild harp with a plaintive sound; 
By the long surge that foams through yonder Cave 
Whose vaults remurmur to the roaring wave ; 
With living colours give my Verse to glow, 
The sad Memorial of a Tale of Woe ! 
The fate, in lively sorrow, to deplore 
Of Wanderers shipwrecked on a leeward shore. 



APOLOGY. 

Alas ! neglected by the sacred Nine 
Their Suppliant feels no genial ray divine : 
Ah ! will they leave Pieria's happy shore 
To plough the Tide where wintry tempests roar? 
Or shall a Youth approach their hallowed fane 
Stranger to Phcebus, and the tuneful train ? 
Far from the Muses' academic grove 
'Twas his the vast and trackless Deep to rove, 
Alternate change of climates has he known, 
And felt the fierce extremes of either zone : 
Where polar skies congeal th' eternal snow 
Or equinoctial suns for ever glow. 
Smote by the freezing, or the scorching blast, 
' A Ship-Boy on the high and giddy mast' 
From regions where Peruvian billows roar, 
To the bleak coasts of savage Labrador; 
From where Damascus pride of Asian plains 
Stoops her proud neck beneath tyrannic chains, 
To where the Isthmus lav'd by adverse tides 
Atlantic and Pacific seas divides : 
But while he measured o'er the painful race 
In Fortune's wild illimitable chace, 



4 REVIEW OF FALCONER'S LIFE. 

Adversity, companion of his way, 

Still o'er the Victim hung with iron sway, 

Bade new distresses every instant grow, 

Marking each change of place with change of Woe : 

In regions where th' Almighty's chastening hand 

With livid Pestilence afflicts the land, 

Or where pale Famine blasts the hopeful year, 

Parent of want and misery severe ; 

Or where, all-dreadful in th' embattled line, 

The hostile Ships in flaming combat join, 

Where the torn Vessel Wind and Waves assail 

Till o'er her Crew distress and death prevail — 

Such joyless Toils in early youth endured 

Th' expanding dawn of mental day obscured, 

Each genial passion of the Soul opprest 

And quenched the ardour kindling in his breast. 

Then censure not severe the Native Song 

Though jarring sounds the measured verse prolong, 

Though terms uncouth offend the softer ear, 

Yet Truth, and human anguish deign to hear : 

No laurel wreaths the lays attempt to claim, 

Nor sculptured brass to tell the Poet's name, 



PERSONIFICATION OF MEMORY. O 

And lo ! the Power that wakes th' eventful Song 
Hastes hither from Lethean banks along, 
She sweeps the gloom, and rushing on the sight 
Spreads o'er the kindling scene propitious Light. 
In her right hand an ample Roll appears 
Fraught with long annals of preceding years, 
With eveiy wise and noble art of Man 
Since first the circlins: hours their course began : 
Her left a silver wand on high displayed, 
Whose magic touch dispels Oblivion's shade. 
Pensive her look ; on radiant wings that glow 
Like Juno's birds, or Iris' flaming bow, 
She sails ; and swifter than the course of light 
Directs her rapid intellectual flight. 
The fugitive ideas she restores, 
And calls the wandering thought from Lethe's shore 
To things long past a second date she gives, 
And hoary Time from her fresh }^outh receives ; 
Congenial sister of immortal Fame 
She shares her power, and Memory is her name. 

O first-born Daughter of primeval Time ! 
By whom transmitted down in every clime 



6 ADJ)R£8S TO MEMORY. 

The deeds of ages long elapsed are known, 
And blazoned glories spread from zone to zone; 
Whose magic breath dispels the mental night 
And o'er th' obscured idea pours the light; 
Say on what Seas, for thou alone canst tell, 
What dire mishap a fated Ship befel 
Assailed by tempests, girt with hostile shores ? 
Arise! approach! unlock thy treasured Stores! 
Full on my Soul the dreadful Scene display 
And give its latent horrors to the Day. 



FIRST CANTO 



The Scene of which lies near the City of Candia. 



TIME, ABOUT FOUR DAYS AND AN HALF. 



ARGUMENT. 



I. Retrospect of the Voyage. .Arrival at Candia. . State of that 
Island. . Season of the Year described. . II. Character of the 
Master, and his Officers, Albert, Rodmond, and Arion. . 
Palemon Son to the Owner of the Ship. . Attachment of 
Palemon to Anna the Daughter of Albert. . Noon. . 
III. Palemon's History. . IV. Sun set. . Midnight, . . Ari- 
on 's Dream, . . Unmoor by Moonlight. . . Morning. Sun's 
Azimuth taken. . Beautiful appearance of the Ship, as seen 
by the Natives from the Shore. 




N.focack J>i> 



JJ*UbrJartpi 



W Jan ■: 1804., Bond Scmt. 



THE FIRST CANTO. 



I. A Ship from Egypt,, o'er the deep impell'd 
By guiding winds,, her course for Venice held,, 
Of famed Britannia were the gallant crew, 
And from that Tsle her name the Vessel drew; 
The wayward steps of Fortune they pursued, 
And sought in certain ills imagined good : 



10 RETROSPECT OF THE VOYAGE. 

Though cautioned oft her slippery path to shun, 
Hope still with promised joys allured them on; 
And while they listened to her winning lore 
The softer scenes of Peace could please no more. 
Long absent they from friends and native home 
The cheerless Ocean were inured to roam ; 
Yet Heaven, in pity to severe distress. 
Had crowned each painful voyage with success ; 
Still to compensate toils and hazards past 
Restored them to maternal plains at last. 

Thrice had the Sun to rule the varying year 
Across th' equator rolled his flaming sphere, 
Since last the Vessel spread her ample sail 
From Albion's coast, obsequious to the gale ; 
She o'er the spacious flood, from shore to shore 
Unwearying wafted her commercial store ; 
The richest ports of Afric she had viewed 
Thence to fair Italy her course pursued, 
Had left behind Trinacria's burning isle 
And visited the margin of the Nile : 
And now, that Winter deepens round the Pole, 
The circling Voyage hastens to its goal : 



CANDIA. 11 

They, blind to Fate's inevitable law, 

No dark event to blast their hope foresaw, 

But from gay Venice, soon expect to steer 

For Britain's coast, and dread no perils near; 

Inflamed by Hope, their throbbing hearts elate 

Ideal pleasures vainly antedate, 

Before whose vivid intellectual ray 

Distress recedes, and danger melts away. 

Already British Coasts appear to rise, 

The chalky Cliffs salute their longing eyes; 

Each to his breast, where floods of rapture roll, 

Embracing strains the Mistress of his soul: 

Nor less o'erjoyed, with sympathetic truth, 

Each faithful Maid expects th' approaching youth. 

In distant souls congenial passions glow, 

And mutual feelings mutual bliss bestow : 

Such shadowy Happiness their thoughts employ, 

Illusion all, and visionary joy ! 

Thus time elapsed, while o'er the pathless tide 
Their Ship through Grecian seas the pilots guide. 
Occasion called to touch at Candia's shore, 
Which, blest with favoringWinds, they soon explore ; 



12 STATE OF CANDIA. 

The Haven enter, borne before the gale, 
Dispatch their commerce, and prepare to sail. 

Eternal powers ! what ruins from afar 
Mark the fell track of desolating War : 
Here Arts and Commerce with auspicious reign 
Once breathed sweet influence on the happy plaint 
While o'er the lawn, with dance and festive song. 
Young Pleasure led the jocund Hours along. 
In gay luxuriance Ceres too was seen 
To crown the vallies with eternal green : 
For wealth, for valour, courted and revered, 
What Albion is, fair Candia then appeared. — 
Ah ! who the flight of Ages can revoke ? 
The free-born spirit of her Sons is broke, 
They bow to Ottoman's imperious yoke. 
No longer Fame the drooping heart inspires, 
For stern Oppression quenched its genial fires. 
Though still her fields, with golden harvests crown 'd, 
Supply the barren shores of Greece around, 
Sharp penury afflicts these wretched Isles, 
There Hope ne'er dawns, and Pleasure never smiles. 
The vassal wretch contented drags his chain, 
And hears his famished babes lament in vain. 



SEASON OF THE YEAR. 13 

These eyes have seen the dull reluctant soil 
A seventh year mock the weary labourer's toil. 
No blooming Venus,, on the desert shore 
Now views with triumph captive gods adore ; 
No lovely Helens now with fatal charms 
Excite th' avenging Chiefs of Greece to arms \ 
No fair Penelopes enchant the eye,, 
For whom contending kings were proud to die; 
Here sullen Beauty sheds a twilight ray, 
While Sorrow bids her vernal bloom decay : 
Those Charms, so long renowned in Classic strains, 
Had dimly shone on Albion's happier plains! 

Now in the southern hemisphere, the Sun 
Through the bright Virgin, and the Scales, had run, 
And on th' ecliptic wheeled his winding way 
Till the fierce Scorpion felt his flaming ray. 
Four days becalmed the Vessel here remains 
And yet no hopes of aiding Wind obtains, 
For sickening vapours lull the air to sleep^ 
And not a breeze awakes the silent Deep : 
This, when th' autumnal Equinox is o'er, 
And Phoebus in the north declines no more, 



14 FATAL INFLUENCE OF GOLD. 

The watchful mariner, whom Heaven informs, 
Oft deems the prelude of approaching Storms — 
No dread of Storms the Master's soul restrain, 
A Captive fettered to the oar of gain : 
His anxious heart impatient of delay 
Expects the winds to sail from Candia's bay, 
Determined, from whatever point they rise, 
To trust his fortune to the Seas, and Skies. 

Thou living ray of intellectual Fire 
Whose voluntary gleams my verse inspire ; 
Ere yet the deepening Incidents prevail 
Till roused attention feel our plaintive tale, 
Record whom chief among the gallant Crew ' 
Th' unblest pursuit of fortune hither drew : 
Can Sons of Neptune, generous, brave, and bold, 
In pain and hazard toil for sordid Gold ? 

They can ! for Gold too oft with magic art 
Can rule the Passions, and corrupt the Heart: 
This crowns the prosperous Villain with applause, 
To whom in vain sad Merit pleads her cause ; 
This strews with roses Life's perplexing road, 
And leads the way to pleasure's soft abode ; 



CHARACTER OF THE COMMANDER. 15 

This spreads with slaughtered heaps the bloody plain. 
And pours adventurous thousands o'er the Main. 
II. The stately Ship with all her daring Band 
To skilful Albert owned the chief command : 
Though trained in boisterous elements, his mind 
Was yet by soft humanity refin'd ; 
Each joy of wedded love at home he knew, 
Aboard, confest the Father of his Crew ! 
Brave, liberal, just! the calm domestic scene 
Had o'er his temper breathed a gay serene. 
Him Science taught by mystic lore to trace 
The planets wheeling in eternal race ; 
To mark the Ship in floating balance held, 
By Earth attracted, and by Seas repell'd ; 
Or point her devious track through climes unknown 
That leads to every shore and every zone. 
He saw the Moon thro' Heaven's blue concave glide 
And into motion charm th' expanding Tide, 
While Earth impetuous round her axle rolls, 
Exalts her watery zone, and sinks the poles; 
Light and Attraction, from their genial source, 
He saw still wandering with diminished force ; 



16 CHARACTER OF RODMONB. 

While on the margin of declining day 
Night's shadowy cone reluctant melts away. 
Inured to peril, with unconquered soul, 
The Chief beheld tempestuous Oceans roll : 
O'er the wild Surge when dismal shades preside 
His equal skill the lonely Bark could guide; 
His genius, ever for th' event prepared, 
Rose with the Storm, and all its dangers shared. 

Rodmond the next degree to Albert bore, 
A hardy son of England's farthest shore, 
Where bleak Northumbria pours her savage train 
In sable squadrons o'er the northern main ; 
That, with her pitchy entrails stored, resort 
A sooty tribe to fair Augusta's port: 
Where'er in ambush lurk the fatal Sands 
They claim the danger, proud of skilful bands ; 
For while with darkling course their Vessels sweep 
The winding shore, or plough the faithless deep t 
O'er Bar, and Shelf, the watery path they sound 
With dexterous arm, sagacious of the ground : 
Fearless they combat every hostile wind, 
Wheeling in mazy tracks, with course inclin'd. 



CHARACTER OF RODMOND. 17 

Expert to moor where terrors line the road, 
Or win the anchor from its dark abode ; 
But drooping, and relaxed, in climes afar, 
Tumultuous and undisciplined in War. 
Such Rodmond was; by learning unrefin'dj 
That oft enlightens to corrupt the mind. 
Boisterous of manners ; trained in early youth 
To scenes that shame the conscious cheek of Truth ; 
To scenes that Nature's struggling voice control, 
And freeze Compassion rising in the soul : 
Where the grim hell-hounds prowling round the shore 
With foul intent the stranded Bark explore ; 
Deaf to the voice of woe, her decks they board. 
While tardy Justice slumbers o'er her sword. 
Th' indignant Muse severely taught to feel 
Shrinks from a theme she blushes to reveal. 
Too oft Example armed wich poisons fell, 
Pollutes the shrine where mercy loves to dwell : 
Thus Rodmond, trained by this unhallowed crew, 
The sacred social passions never knew. 
Unskilled to argue, in dispute yet loud, 
Bold without caution, without honours proud; 

c 



18 CHARACTER OF ARION. 

In Art unschooled, each veteran rule he prized, 
And all improvement haughtily despised. 
Yet, though full oft to future perils blind, 
With Skill superior glowed his daring mind 
Through snares of death the reeling Bark to guide, 
When midnight shades involve the raging tide. 

To Rodmond next in order of command 
Succeeds the youngest of our naval band : 
But what avails it to record a name 
That courts no rank among the sons of fame ; - 
Whose vital spring had just began to bloom 
When o'er it Sorrow spread her sickening gloom. 
While yet a stripling, oft with fond alarms 
His bosom danced to Nature's boundless charms ; 
On him fair Science dawned in happier hour, 
Awakening into bloom young Fancy's flower: 
But soon Adversity with freezing blast 
The blossom withered, and the dawn o'ercast. 
Forlorn of heart, and by severe decree 
Condemned reluctant to the faithless Sea, 
With long farewell he left the laurel grove 
Where Science, and the tuneful sisters rove. 



CHARACTER OF ARION. 19 

Hither he wandered, anxious to explore 

Antiquities of Nations now no more ; 

To penetrate each distant realm unknown,, 

And range excursive o'er th' untravelled zone, 

In vain — for rude Adversity's command 

Still on the margin of each famous land, 

With unrelenting ire his steps opposed, 

And every gate of Hope against him closed 6 

Permit my verse, ye blest Pierian train ! 

To call Arion this ill-fated swain; 

For like that Bard unhappy, on his head 

Malignant stars their hostile influence shed. 

Both in lamenting numbers, o'er the deep 

With conscious anguish taught the Harp to weep ; 

And both the raging Surge in safety bore 

Amid destruction, panting to the shore. 

This last, our tragic Story from the wave 

Of dark oblivion haply yet may save ; 

With genuine sympathy may yet complain, 

While sad Remembrance bleeds at every vein* 

These, chief among the Ship's conducting train, 
Her path explored along the deep domain j 



20 CHARACTER OF PALEMON. 

Trained to command, and range the swelling sail 
Whose varying force conforms to every gale. 
Charged with the commerce, hither also came 
A gallant youth, Palemon was his name: 
A Father's stern resentment doomed to prove, 
He came the victim of unhappy love ! 
His heart for Albert's beauteous daughter bled, 
For her a sacred flame his bosom fed : 
; Nor let the wretched Slaves of Folly scorn 
This genuine passion, Nature's eldest born ! 
Tvvas his with lasting anguish to complain, 
While blooming Anna mourned the cause in vain. 
Graceful of form, by Nature taught to please, 
Of power to melt the female breast with ease ; 
To her Palemon told his tender tale 
Soft as the voice of Summer's evening gale: 
His Soul, where moral truth spontaneous grew, 
No guilty wish, no cruel passion knew : 
Though tremblingly alive to Nature's Laws, 
Yet ever firm to Honour's sacred cause ; 
O'erjoyed he saw her lovely eyes relent, 
The blushing Maiden smiled with sweet consent. 



PALEMON AND ANNA. 21 

Oft in the mazes of a neighbouring grove 
Unheard they breathed alternate vows of love : 
By fond society their passion grew, 
Like the young blossom fed with vernal dew ; 
While their chaste Souls possessed the pleasing pains 
That Truth improves, and Virtue ne'er restrains. 
In evil hour th' officious tongue of Fame 
Betrayed the Secret of their mutual flame. 
With grief and anger struggling in his breast 
Palemon's Father heard the tale confest; 
Long had he listened with Suspicion's ear, 
And learnt, sagacious, this event to fear. 
Too well, fair Youth ! thy liberal heart he knew 
A heart to Nature's warm impressions true : 
Full oft his wisdom strove with fruitless toil 
With Avarice to pollute that generous soil ; 
That soil impregnated with nobler seed 
Refused the culture of so rank a weed. 
Elate with wealth in active Commerce won, 
And basking in the smile of fortune's sun ; 
For many freighted Ships from shore to shore, 
Their wealthy charge by his appointment bore ; 



£2 THE SORDID FATHER. 

With scorn the Parent eyed the lowly shade 
That veiled the beauties of this charming maid. 
He by the lust of Riches only moved 
Such mean connexions haughtily reproved ; 
Indignant he rebuked th' enamoured boy, 
The flattering promise of his future joy; 
He soothed and menaced, anxious to reclaim 
This hopeless passion, or divert its aim : 
Oft led the youth where circling joys delight 
The ravished sense, or beauty charms the sight. 
With all her powers enchanting Music failed, 
And Pleasure's syren voice no more prevailed: 
Long with unequal art, in vain he strove 
To quench th' ethereal flame of ardent Love. 
The Merchant, kindling then with proud disdain, 
In look, and voice, assumed an harsher strain. 
In Absence now his only hope remained ; 
And such the stern decree his will ordained : 
Deep anguish, while Palemon heard his doom, 
Drew o'er his lovely face a saddening gloom ; 
High beat his heart, fast flowed th' unbidden tear, 
^lis bosom heaved with agony severe; 



PALEMON AND ARION. 23 

In vain with bitter sorrow he repin'd, 

No tender pity touched that sordid mind — 

To thee, brave Albert ! was the charge consigned. 

The stately Ship forsaking England's shore 

To regions far remote Palemon bore. 

Incapable of change, th' unhappy youth 

Still loved fair Anna with eternal truth; 

Still Anna's image swims before his sight 

In fleeting vision through the restless night ; 

From clime to clime an Exile doomed to roam, 

His heart still panted for its secret home. 

The Moon had circled twice her wayward zone, 
To him since young Arion first was known; 
Who wandering here thro' many a scene renown'd, 
In Alexandria's port the Vessel found; 
Where, anxious to review his native shore, 
He on the roaring wave embarked once more. 
Oft by pale Cynthia's melancholy light 
With him Palemon kept the watch of night, 
In whose sad bosom many a sigh supprest 
Some painful secret of the soul confest : 
Perhaps Arion soon the cause divin'd, 
Though shunning still to probe a wounded mind ; 



24 NOON. 

He felt the chastity of silent woe, 
Though glad the balm of comfort to bestow. 
He, with Palemon, oft recounted o'er 
The tales of hapless Love in ancient lore, 
Recalled to memory by th' adjacent shore: 
The scene thus present, and its story known, 
The Lover sighed for sorrows not his own. 
Thus, though a recent date their Friendship bore, 
Soon the ripe metal owned the quick'ning ore; 
For in one tide their passions seemed to roll, 
By kindred age and sympathy of soul. 

These o'er th' inferior naval train preside, 
The course determine, or the commerce guide : 
O'er all the rest, an undistinguished Crew, 
Her wing of deepest shade Oblivion drew. 

A sullen languor still the skies opprest, 
And held th' unwilling Ship in strong arrest: 
High in his chariot glowed the lamp of day, 
O'er Ida flaming with meridian ray, 
Relaxed from toil, the Sailors range the shore 
Where famine, war, and storm are felt no more ; 
The hour to social pleasure they resign, 
And black remembrance drown in generous wine. 



THE FRIENDS VISIT THE ISLAND. 23 

On deck, beneath the shading canvass spread, 
Rodmond, a rueful tale of wonders read 
Of dragons roaring on th' enchanted coast ; 
The hideous Goblin, and the yelling Ghost : 
But with An i on, from the sultry heat 
Of Noon, Palemon sought a cool retreat — 
And lo ! the Shore with mournful prospects crown'd, 
The Rampart torn with many a fatal wound, 
The ruined Bulwark tottering o'er the strand, 
Bewail the stroke of War's tremendous hand : 
What scenes of woe this hapless Isle o'erspread ! 
Where late thrice fifty thousand warriors bled. 
Full twice twelve summers were yon towers assailed, 
Till barbarous Ottoman at last prevailed ; 
While thundering mines the lovely plains o'erturned, 
While heroes fell, and domes,, and temples burned. 
III. But now before them happier scenes arise, 
Elysian Vales salute their ravished eyes; 
Olive, and Cedar, formed a grateful shade 
Where light, with gay romantic error strayed. 
The Myrtles here with fond caresses twine, 
There, rich with nectar, melts the pregnant Vine : 



26" palemon's history. 

And lo ! the Stream renowned in classic song 
Sad Lethe, glides the silent vale along. 
On mossy banks, beneath the Citron grove, 
The youthful wanderers found a wild Alcove ; 
Soft o'er the fairy region Languor stole, 
And with sweet Melancholy charmed the soul. 
Here first Palemon, while his pensive mind 
For consolation on his friend reclin'd, 
In pity's bleeding bosom, poured the stream 
Of Love's soft anguish, and of grief supreme — 
e< Too true thy words ! by sweet remembrance taught 
" My heart in secret bleeds with tender thought ; 
(( In vain it courts the solitary shade, 
" By every action, every look betrayed. 
" The pride of generous woe, disdains appeal 
f< To hearts that unrelenting frosts congeal : 
" Yet sure, if right Palemon can divine, 
" The sense of gentle pity dwells in thine. 
" Yes ! all his cares thy sympathy shall know, 
ie And prove the kind companion of his woe." 
"Albert thou know'st with Skill, and Science 
graced ; 
(< In humble station though by Fortune placed, 



palemon's history. 27 

C( Yet never Seaman more serenely brave 

e( Led Britain's conquering Squadrons o'er the wave, 

" Where full in view Augusta's spires are seen 

" With flowery lawns, and waving woods between, 

(c An humble habitation rose, beside 

" Where Thames meandring rolls his ample tide: 

<f There live the hope and pleasure of his life, 

" A pious Daughter, and a faithful Wife. 

" For his return with fond officious care 

" Still every grateful object these prepare; 

<( Whatever can allure the smell or sight, 

<( Or wake the drooping spirits to delight. 

" This blooming Maid in Virtue's path to guide 
<( Th' admiring parents all their care applyed ; 
" Her spotless soul to soft affection trained, 
" No vice untuned, no sickening folly stained : 
" Not fairer grows the Lily of the vale 
" Whose bosom opens to the vernal gale : 
" Her eyes, unconscious of their fatal charms, 
" Thrilled every heart with exquisite alarms ; 
" Her face, in Beauty's sweet attraction drest, 
(( The smile of maiden innocence exprest; 



28 PALEMON S HISTORY. 

" While Healthy that rises with the new-born day, 
" Breathed o'er her cheek the softest blush of May : 
' ( Still in her look Complacence smiled serene ; 
f She moved the Charmer of the rural scene ! 

" 'Twas at that Season, when the fields resume 
" Their loveliest hues arrayed in vernal bloom ; 
" Yon Ship, rich freighted from th' Italian shore, 
' e To Thames' fair banks her costly tribute bore : 
" While thus my Father saw his ample hoard 
Ci From this return, with recent treasures stor'd; 
" Me, with affairs of commerce charged, he sent 
" To Albert's humble mansion — soon I went! 
" Too soon, alas ! unconscious of th' event. 
(( There, struck with sweet surprise and silent awe, 
" The gentle Mistress of my hopes I saw ; 
"" There, wounded first by Love's resistless arms, 
*< My glowing bosom throbbed with strange alarms : 
(< My ever charming Anna ! who alone 
<c Can all the frowns of cruel fate atone ; 
' ' Oh ! while all-conscious Memory holds her power, 
c< Can I forget that sweetly-painful hour 
" When from those eyes,with lovely lightning fraught, 
" My fluttering spirits first th' infection caught? 



palemon's history. 29 

" When, as I gazed, my faltering tongue betray'd 
" The heart's quick tumults, or refused its aid; 
" While the dim light my ravished eyes forsook, 
" And every limb unstrung with terror shook. 
" With all her powers, dissenting Reason strove 
" To tame at first the kindling flame of Love : 
" She strove in vain ; subdued by charms divine 
" My soul a victim fell at beauty's shrine. 
" Oft from the din of bustling life I strayed, 
" In happier scenes to see my lovely Maid; 
" Full oft,whereThames his wandering current leads, 
" We roved at evening hour through flowery meads ; 
' ( There, while my heart's soft anguish I revealed, 
" To her with tender sighs my hope appealed : 
" While the sweet Nymph my faithful tale believed, 
' ' Her snowy breast with secret tumult heaved ; 
" For trained in rural scenes from earliest youth 
" Nature was her's, and Innocence, and Truth. 
" She never knew the city damsel's art, 
" Whose frothy pertness charms the vacant heart — 
" My suit prevailed ! for Love informed my tongue, 
" And on his votary's lips persuasion hung. 



30 palemon's history. 

" Her eyes with conscious sympathy withdrew, 

" And o'er her cheek the rosy current flew. 

" Thrice happy hours ! where with no dark allay 

ee Life's fairest sunshine gilds the vernal day : 

" For here the sigh that soft affection heaves,, 

" From stings of sharper woe the soul relieves. 

" Elysian scenes ! too happy long to last, 

" Too soon a storm the smiling dawn o'ercast; 

" Too soon some demon to my Father bore 

" The tidings, that his heart with anguish tore. 

" My pride to kindle, with dissuasive voice 

" Awhile he laboured to degrade my choice; 

" Then, in the whirling wave of Pleasure, sought 

" From its loved object to divert my thought. 

" With equal hope he might attempt to bind 

" In chains of adamant the lawless Wind ; 

" For Love had aimed the fatal shaft too sure, 

" Hope fed the wound, and Absence knew no cure. 

" With alienated look, each art he saw 

" Still baffled by superior Nature's law. 

" His anxious mnd on various schemes revolved, 

" At last on cruel Exile he resolved : 



palemon's history. 31 

" The rigorous doom was fixed ; alas ! how vain 

" To him of tender anguish to complain. 

i( His soul, that never Love's sweet influence felt, 

(e By social sympathy could never melt ; 

" With stern command to Albert's charge he gave 

" To waft Palemon o'er the distant wave. 

" The Ship was laden and prepared to sail, 
" And only waited now the leading gale : 
" 'Twas ours, in that sad period, first to prove 
" The poignant torments of despairing Love ; 
" Th' impatient Wish that never feels repose, 
fC Desire that with perpetual current flows, 
'" The fluctuating pangs of Hope and Fear, 
" Joy distant still, and Sorrow ever near. 
" Thus, while the pangs of thought severer grew, 
" The western Breezes inauspicious blew, 
<c Hastening the moment of our last adieu. 
" The Vessel parted on the falling tide, 
' ' Yet time one sacred hour to Love supplied : 
" The Night was silent, and advancing fast, 
" The Moon o'er Thames her silver mantle cast; 
" Impatient Hope the midnight path explored, 
" And led me to the Nymph my soul adored. 



32 palemon's history. 

(e Soon her quick footsteps struck my listening ear, 

' ' She came confest ! the lovely Maid drew near ! 

" But, ah ! what force of language can impart 

" Th' impetuous joy that glowed in either heart: 

" O ye! whose melting hearts are formed to prove 

" The trembling Ecstasies of genuine love ; 

" When with delicious agony, the thought 

(( Is to the verge of high delirium wrought; 

" Your secret sympathy alone can tell 

" What raptures then the throbbing bosom swell ; 

u O'er all the nerves what tender tumults roll, 

" While Love with sweet enchantment melts the soul. 

" In transport lost, by trembling hope imprest, 
u The blushing Virgin sunk upon my breast, 
" While her's congenial beat with fond alarms; 
" Dissolving softness ! Paradise of charms ! 
u Flashed from our eyes, in warm transfusion flew 
" Our blending spirits that each other drew ! 
" O bliss supreme ! where Virtue's self can melt 
" With joys, that guilty Pleasure never felt; 
i( Formed to refine the thought with chaste desire, 
" And kindle sweet Affection's purest fire. 



PALEM0N S HISTORY. 33 

c< Ah ! wherefore should my hopeless love, she cries 

u While sorrow burst with interrupting sighs, 

** For ever destined to lament in vain, 

" Such flattering, fond ideas entertain. 

" My Heart through scenes of fair illusion stray'd, 

" To joys, decreed for some superior Maid. 

" Tis mine abandoned to severe distress 

" Still to complain, and never hope redress — 

"Go then, dear Youth ! thy father's rage atone, 

" And let this tortured bosom beat alone. 

" The hovering anger yet thou may's t appease ; 

" Go then, dear Youth ! nor tempt the faithless Seas. 

" Find out some happier Maid, whose equal charms 

" With Fortune's fairer joys, may bless thy arms: 

" Where smiling o'er thee with indulgent ray, 

" Prosperity shall hail each new-born day : 

" Too well thou know'st good Albert's niggard fate 

" 111 fitted to sustain thy father's hate, 

" Go then I charge thee by thy generous love, 

" That fatal to my father thus may prove ; 

" On me alone let dark affliction fall, 

" Whose heart for thee will gladly suffer all. 



34 PALEMON S HISTORY. 

<f Then haste thee hence Palemon, ere too late, 
" Nor rashly hope to brave opposing Fate. 

' ' She ceased : while anguish in her angel-face 
" O'er all her beauties showered celestial grace : 
(< Not Helen, in her bridal charms arrayed, 
u Was half so lovely as this gentle Maid — ■ 
" O soul of all my wishes ! I replied, 
" Can that soft fabric stem Affliction's tide ? 
" Canst thou, bright pattern of exalted Truth, 
" To Sorrow doom the summer of thy youth, 
" And I, ingrateful ! all that sweetness see 
" Consigned to lasting misery for me ? 
f< Sooner this moment may th' eternal doom 
" Palemon in the silent earth entomb; 
' ( Attest, thou Moon, fair regent of the night ! 
u Whose lustre sickens at this mournful sight: 
" By all the pangs divided lovers feel 
<( Which sweet possession only knows to heal ; 
<( By all the horrors brooding o'er the Deep 
" Where Fate, and Ruin, sad dominion keep; 
" Though tyrant Duty o'er me threatening stands 
<{ And claims obedience to her stern commands, 



PALEMON S HISTORY. 35 

tc Should Fortune cruel or auspicious prove, 
" Her smile, or frown, shall never change my love* 
" My heart, that now must every joy resign, 
u Incapable of change, is only thine. 

" Oh, cease to weep ! this storm will yet decay, 
S( And the sad clouds of sorrow melt away : 
" While through the rugged path of life we go, 
" All Mortals taste the bitter draught of woe. 
" The famed and great, decreed to equal pain, 
" Full oft in splendid wretchedness complain : 
" For this, Prosperity, with brighter ray 
(C In smiling contrast gilds our vital day. 
<c Thou too sweet Maid ! ere twice ten months are o'er 
" Shalt hail Palemon to his native shore, 
<( Where never Interest shall divide us more— - 

" Her struggling soul o'erwhelmed with tender grief, 
" Now found an interval of short relief: 
" So melts the surface of the frozen stream 
" Beneath the Wintry Sun's departing beam. 
ff With cruel haste the shades of Night withdrew, 
(f And gave the signal of a sad adieu. 
f( As on my neck th' afflicted Maiden hung, 
' ' A thousand racking doubts her spirit wrung : 



36 

" She wept the terrors of the fearful Wave, 

" Too oft, alas ! the wandering lover's grave : 

" With soft persuasion I dispelled her fear, 

" And from her cheek beguiled the falling tear. 

" While dying fondness languished in her eyes 

" She poured her soul to heaven in suppliant sighs: 

" Look down with pity, O ye powers above! 

(( Who hear the sad complaint of bleeding Love; 

" Ye, who the secret laws of Fate explore, 

" Alone can tell if he returns no more ; 

<( Or if the hour of future joy remain 

" Long-wished atonement of long-suffered pain, 

" Bid every guardian minister attend, 

" And from all ill the much-loved Youth defend. 

(C With grief o'erwhelmed we parted twice in vain 

" And, urged by strong attraction, met again, 

" At last, by cruel Fortune torn apart 

" While tender passion beat in either heart, 

" Our eyes transfixed with agonizing look, 

" One sad farewell, one last embrace we took. 

" Forlorn of hope the lovely Maid I left, 

" Pensive and pale, of every joy bereft: 



ADDRESS TO FEMALE READERS. 37 

" She to her silent couch retired to weep, 

t€ AVhilst I embarked, in sadness, on the Deep." 

His Tale thus closed, from sympathy of grief 
Palemon's bosom felt a sweet relief: 
To mutual Friendship thus sincerely true, 
No secret wish, or fear, their bosoms knew ; 
In mutual hazards oft severely tried, 
Nor Hope, nor Danger, could their love divide. 

Ye tender Maids ! in whose pathetic souls 
Compassion's sacred stream impetuous rolls, 
Whose warm affections exquisitely feel 
The secret wound you tremble to reveal; 
Ah ! may no wanderer of the stormy main 
Pour through your breasts the soft delicious bane ; 
May never fatal tenderness approve 
The fond effusions of their ardent love : 
Oh ! warned, avoid the Path that leads to Woe, 
Where thorns, and baneful weeds, alternate grow : 
Let them severer stoic Nymphs possess 
Whose stubborn passions feel no soft distress. 

Now as the Youths returning o'er the plain 
Approached the lonely margin of the Main, 



38 SUN SET. 

First,, with attention rouzed, Arion eyed 
The graceful Lover, formed in Nature's pride : 
His frame the happiest symmetry displayed, 
And locks of waving gold his neck arrayed ; 
In every look the Paphian graces shine 
Soft breathing o'er his cheek their bloom divine ; 
With lightened heart he smiled serenely gay, 
like young Adonis, or the son of May. 
Not Cytherea from a fairer swain 
Received her apple on the Trojan plain. 

IV. The Sun's bright orb declining all serene 
Now glanced obliquely o'er the woodland scene. 
Creation smiles around ; on every spray 
The warbling birds exalt their evening lay : 
Blithe skipping o'er yon hill, the fleecy train 
Join the deep chorus of the lowing plain; 
The golden lime, and orange, there were seen 
On fragrant branches of perpetual green ; 
The crystal streams that velvet meadows lave, 
To the green Ocean roll with chiding wave. 
The glassy Ocean hushed forgets to roar, 
But trembling murmurs on the sandy shore : 



MIDNIGHT. 39 

And lo ! his surface lovely to behold 
Glows in the west, a sea of living gold ! 
While, all above, a thousand liveries gay 
The Skies with pomp ineffable array. 
Arabian sweets perfume the happy plains; 
Above, beneath, around, enchantment reigns ! 
While glowing Vesper leads the starry train, 
And Night slow draws her veil o'er Land, and Main, 
Emerging clouds the azure East invade, 
And wrap the lucid Spheres in gradual shade ; 
While yet the songsters of the vocal grove, 
With dying numbers tune the soul to love : 
With joyful eyes th' attentive Master sees 
Th' auspicious omens of an eastern breeze. 
Round the charged bowl the Sailors form a ring; 
By turns recount the wondrous tale, or sing, 
As love, or battle, hardships of the Main, 
Or genial wine, awake the homely strain : 
Then some the Watch of Night alternate keep, 
The rest lie buried in oblivious sleep. 

Deep Midnight now involves the livid skies 
When eastern breezes, yet enervate, rise : 



40 arion's dream. 

The waning Moon behind a watery shroud 
Pale glimmered o'er the long protracted cloud ; 
A mighty Halo round her silver throne, 
With parting meteors crossed, portentous shone : 
This in the troubled sky full oft prevails, 
Oft deemed a signal of tempestuous gales. 

While young Am on sleeps, before his sight 
Tumultuous swim the Visions of the Night : 
Now blooming Anna with her happy swain 
Approached the sacred Hymeneal fane ; 
Anon, tremendous lightnings flash between, 
And funeral pomp, and weeping loves are seen : 
Now with Pa lemon, up a rocky Steep 
Whose summit trembles o'er the roaring Deep 
With painful step he climbed, while far above 
Sweet Anna charmed them with the voice of Love; 
Then sudden from the slippery height they fell, 
While dreadful yawned beneath the jaws of hell — 
Amid this fearful Trance, a thundering sound 
He hears, and thrice the hollow decks rebound ; 
Upstarting from his couch on deck he sprung, 
Thrice with shrill note the Boatswain's whistle rung : 



UNMOOR BY MOONLIGHT. 41 

All hands unmoor! proclaims a boisterous cry, 
All hands unmoor! the caverned Rocks reply. 
Roused from repose aloft the Sailors swarm, 
And with their levers soon the Windlass arm: 
The Order given, up springing with a bound 
They fix the bars, and heave the Windlass round, 
At every turn the clanging pauls resound : 
Up-torn reluctant from its oozy cave 
The ponderous Anchor rises o'er the wave. 
High on the slippery Masts the Yards ascend, 
And far abroad the canvass wings extend. 
Along the glassy plain the Vessel glides, 
While azure radiance trembles on her sides ; 
The lunar rays in long reflection gleam, 
With silver deluging the fluid stream. 
Levant, and Thracian Gales, alternate play, 
Then in th' Egyptian quarter die away. 
A Calm ensues; adjacent shores they dread, 
The boats, with rowers manned, are sent ahead ; 
With cordage fastened to the lofty prow 
Aloof to sea the stately Ship they tow ; 
The nervous crew their sweeping oars extend, 
And pealing shouts the shore of Candia rend: 



4% MORNING. 

Success attends their skill! the danger's o'er! 
The Port is doubled, and beheld no more. 

Now Morn with gradual pace advanced on high 
Whitening with orient Beam the twilight Sky : 
She comes not in refulgent pomp arrayed, 
But frowning stern, and wrapt in sullen shade, 
Above incumbent mists, tall Ida's height 
Tremendous rock ! emerges on the sight ; 
North-east, a league, the Isle of Standi a bears. 
And westward, Freschin's woody Cape appears. 

In distant angles while the transient gales 
Alternate blow, they trim the flagging Sails ; 
The drowsy air attentive to retain, 
As from unnumbered points it sweeps the Main, 
Now swelling Stud-Sails on each side extend, 
Then Stay-Sails sidelong to the breeze ascend ; 
While all to court the veering Winds are placed. 
With Yards alternate square, and sharply braced, 

The dim Horizon lowering Vapours shroud, 
And blot the Sun yet struggling in the cloud ; 
Through the wide atmosphere condensed with haze, 
His glaring Orb emits a sanguine blaze. 



sun's azimuth taken. 43 

The Pilots now their Azimuth attend, 
On which all Courses, duly formed, depend : 
The Compass placed to catch the rising ray, 
The Quadrant's shadows studious they survey; 
Along the arch the gradual Index slides, 
While Phoebus down the vertic-circle glides; 
Now seen on Ocean's utmost verge to swim, 
He sweeps it vibrant with his nether limb. 
Thus Height, and Polar distance are obtained, 
Then Latitude, and Declination, gained ; 
In Chiliads next th' Analogy is sought, 
And on the sinical triangle wrought : 
By this magnetic variance is explored, 
Just angles known, and polar truth restored. 

The Natives, while the Ship departs their land, 
Ashore with admiration gazing stand. 
Majestically slow before the breeze 
She moved triumphant o'er the yielding Seas : 
Her bottom through translucent waters shone, 
White as the clouds beneath the blaze of noon ; 
The bending Wales their contrast next displayed, 
All fore and aft in polished jet arrayed. 



44 BEAUTY OF THE SHIP S HEAD. 

Britannia riding awful on the prow, 
Gazed o'er the vassal Waves that rolled below : 
Where'er she moved the vassal Waves were seen 
To yield obsequious, and confess their Queen. 
Th' imperial Trident graced her dexter hand, 
Of power to rule the Surge like Moses' wand ; 
Th' eternal Empire of the Main to keep, 
And guide her squadrons o'er the trembling Deep. 
Her left, propitious, bore a mystic Shield, 
Around whose margin rolls the watery field; 
There her bold Genius in his floating car 
O'er the wild Billow hurls the storm of war: 
And lo ! the beasts that oft with jealous rage 
In bloody combat met, from age to age ; 
Tamed into Union, yoked in Friendship's chain, 
Draw his proud Chariot round the vanquished Main 
From the proud margin to the centre grew 
Shelves, rocks, and whirlpools, hideous to the view. 
Th' immortal Shield from Neptune she received, 
When first her head above the waters heaved — 
Loose floated o'er her limbs an azure vest, 
A figured scutcheon glittered on her breast; 



HER CARVED WORK 45 

There trom one parent soil, tor ever young, 
The blooming Rose and hardy Thistle sprung. 
Around her head an oaken wreath was seen 
Inwove with laurels of unfading green. 

Such was the sculptured Prow; from van to rear 
Th' Artillery frowned, a black tremendous tier ! 
Embalmed with orient gum, above the wave 
The swelling Sides a yellow radiance gave. 
On the broad Stern, a pencil warm and bold 
That never servile rules of art controll'd, 
An allegoric tale on high pour tray 'd; 
There a young Hero, here a royal Maid : 
Fair England's Genius in the youth exprest 
Her ancient foe, but now her friend contest, 
The warlike Nymph with fond regard surveyed ; 
No more his hostile frown her heart dismayed : 
His look, that once shot terror from afar 
Like young Alcides, or the god of war, 
Serene as Summer's evening skies she saw; 
Serene, yet firm, though mild impressing awe : 
Her nervous arm, inured to toils severe, 
Brandished th' unconquered Caledonian spear : 



46 HER CARVED WORK. 

The dreadful falchion of the hills she wore, 

Sung to the Harp in many a tale of yore, 

That oft her rivers dyed with hostile gore. 

Blue was her rocky Shield ; her piercing eye 

Flashed like the meteors of her native sky ; 

Her Crest high-plumed, was rough with many a scar, 

And o'er her Helmet gleamed the northern Star. 

The warrior Youth appeared of noble frame, 

The hardy offspring of some Runic dame : 

Loose o'er his shoulders hung the slackened bow 

Renowned in song, the terror of the foe ! 

The Sword that oft the barbarous. North defy'd, 

The scourge of tyrants ! glittered by his side : 

Clad in refulgent arms in battle won, 

The George emblazoned on his corselet shone; 

Fast by his side was seen a golden Lyre 

Pregnant with numbers of eternal fire ; 

Whose strings unlock the Witches' midnight spell, 

Or waft rapt Fancy through the gulphs of hell : 

Struck with contagion, kindling Fancy hears 

The songs of Heaven, the music of the Spheres ! 

Borne on Newtonian wing through air she flies, 

Where other Suns to other systems rise. 



PENDANT, ARMORS, AND QUARTER. 47 

These front the Scene conspicuous; overhead 
Albion's proud oak his filial branches spread: 
While on the sea-beat shore obsequious stood 
Beneath their feet, the Father of the flood : 
Here, the bold native of her cliffs above, 
Perched by the martial maid the bird of Jove ; 
There, on the watch, sagacious of his prey, 
With eyes of fire, an English mastiff lay : 
Yonder fair Commerce stretched her winged sail, 
Here frowned the god that wakes the living gale. 
High o'er the Poop, the flattering winds unfurled 
Th' imperial Flag that rules the watery World. 
Deep blushing Armors all the Tops invest, 
And warlike trophies either Quarter drest : 
Then towered the Masts, the Canvass swelled on high, 
And waving Streamers floated in the sky. 
Thus the rich Vessel moves in trim array 
Like some fair Virgin on her bridal day ; 
Thus, like a Swan, she cleaved the watery Plain, 
The pride and wonder of th' iEgean main. 

END OF THE FIRST CANTO. 



SIXOND CANTO 



The Scene lies at Sea, between Cape Freschin in 
Candia, and the Island of Falconera, which 
is nearly twelve leagues northward of Cape 
Spado. 

TIME, FROM NINE IN THE MORNING UNTIL ONE 
o'clock OF THE NEXT DAY AT NOON. 



ARGUMENT. 

I. Reflections on leaving Shore . . II. Favourable Breeze. . Water- 
Spout. . The dying Dolphin. . Breeze freshens. . Ship's rapid pro- 
gress along the Coast. . Top-Sails reefed. . Gale of Wind. .Last 
appearance, bearing, and distance, of Cape Spado. . A Squall. . 
Top-Sails double reefed. . Main-Sail split. . The Ship bears away 
before theWind; again hauls upon theWind. . Another Main-Sail 
bent, and set. . Porpoises. . III. The Ship driven out of her course 
from Candia. .Heavy Gale.. Top-Sails furled .. Top-gallant-yards 
lowered. . Great Sea. . Threatening Sun-set. . Difference of Opinion 
respecting the mode of taking in the Main-Sail. . Courses reefed. . 
Four Seamen lost off the lee Main-yard-arm. . Anxiety of the 

Master, and his Mates, on being near a Lee-shore Mizen 

reefed. . IV. A tremendous Sea bursts over the Deck j its conse- 
quences.. The Ship labours in great Distress. . Guns thrown 
overboard. .Dismal appearance of the Weather. .Very high and 
dangerous Sea. . Storm of Lightning. . Severe fatigue of the Crew 
at the Pumps. . Critical situation of the Ship near the Island Fal- 
conera. . Consultation and resolution of the Officers . . Speech and 
advice of Albert ; his devout Address to Heaven. . Order given 
to bear away. .The Fore Stay-Sail hoisted and split. .The Head 
Yards braced aback. .The Mizen-Mast cut away. 




Tu&ti/hed Jan.?, 804, by W.MUUr, Old 3and Street. 



J. Fi&UrJciUp. * 



THE SECOND CANTO. 



. Adieu! ye pleasures of the sylvan scene, 
Where Peace, and calm Contentment, dwell serene : 
To me, in vain, on earth's prolific soil 
With summer crowned, th' Elysian vallies smile; 
To me those happier scenes no joy impart, 
But tantalize with hope my aching heart. 



52 REFLECTIONS. 

Ye Tempests ! o'er my head congenial roll 
To suit the mournful music of my soul ; 
In black progression, lo, they hover near, 
Hail social Horrors ! like my fate severe : 
Old Ocean hail ! beneath whose azure zone 
The secret Deep lies unexplored, unknown. 
Approach ye brave Companions of the Sea ! 
And fearless view this awful Scene with me. 
Ye native guardians of your country's Laws ! 
Ye brave assertors of her sacred Cause ! 
The Muse invites you, judge if she depart 
Unequal, from the thorny rules of art. 
In practice trained, and conscious of her power, 
She boldly moves to meet the trying hour: 
Her voice attempting themes, before unknown 
To Music, sings distresses all her own. 

II. O'er the smooth bosom of the faithless tides, 
Propelled by flattering gales, the Vessel glides : 
Rodmond exulting felt th' auspicious Wind, 
And by a mystic charm its aim confin'd. 
The thoughts of Home that o'er his fancy roll, 
With trembling joy dilate Palemon's Soul; 



WATER SPOUT. 53 

Hope lifts his heart, before whose vivid ray 

Distress recedes, and Danger melts away. 

Tall Ida's summit now more distant grew, 

And Jove's high hill was rising to the view ; 

When on the larboard quarter they descry 

A liquid Column towering shoot on high ; 

The foaming base the angry Whirlwinds sweep, 

Where curling billows rouse the fearful Deep : 

Still round, and round, the fluid vortex flies, 

Diffusing briny Vapors o'er the skies. 

This vast Phenomenon whose lofty head 

In Heaven immersed, embracing clouds o'erspread, 

In spiral motion first, as Seamen deem, 

Swells, when the raging whirlwind sweeps the stream. 

The swift volution, and th' enormous train, 

Let Sages versed in Nature's lore explain — 

The horrid Apparition still draws nigh, 

And white with foam the whirling billows fly. 

The guns were primed ; the Vessel northward veers, 

Till her black battery on the Column bears : 

The nitre fired ; and, while the dreadful sound 

Convulsive shook the slumbering air around. 



54 DOLPHINS. 

The watery Volume trembling to the sky, 
Burst down, a dreadful deluge from on high ! 
Th' expanding Ocean trembled as it fell, 
And felt with swift recoil her Surges swell; 
But soon, this transient undulation o'er, 
The Sea subsides, the whirlwinds rage no more. 
While southward now th' increasing breezes veer, 
Dark clouds incumbent on their wings appear : 
Ahead they see the consecrated grove 
Of cypress, sacred once to Cretan Jove. 
The Ship beneath her lofty pressure reels, 
And to the freshening Gale still deeper heels. 
But now, beneath the lofty Vessel's stern, 
A shoal of sportive Dolphins they discern 
Beaming from burnished Scales refulgent rays, 
Till all the glowing Ocean seems to blaze : 
In curling wreaths they wanton on the Tide, 
Now bound aloft, now downward swiftly glide; 
Awhile beneath the Waves their tracks remain, 
And burn in silver Streams along the liquid plain. 
Soon to the sport of death the Crew repair, 
Dart the long lance, or spread the baited snare. 



BEAUTY OF THE DOLPHIN. 3 

One in redoubling mazes wheels along, 
And glides unhappy near the triple prong: 
RodmonDj unerring, o'er his head suspends 
The barbed steel, and every turn attends ; 
Unerring aimed, the missile weapon flew, 
And, plunging, struck the fated victim through ; 
TV upturning points his ponderous bulk sustain, 
On Deck he struggles with convulsive pain : 
But while his heart the fatal javelin thrills, 
And flitting life escapes in sanguine rills, 
What radiant changes strike th' astonished sight ! 
What glowing hues of mingled shade and light ! 
Not equal beauties gild the lucid West 

With parting beams all o'er profusely drest, 
Not lovelier colours paint the vernal Dawn, 

W T hen orient dews impearl th' enamelled lawn ; 

Than from his sides in bright suffusion flow, 

That now with gold empyreal seem to glow; 

Now in pellucid sapphires meet the view, 

And emulate the soft celestial hue; 

Now beam a flaming crimson on the eye, 

And now assume the purple's deeper dye : 



5(3 SHIP UNDER WEIGH. 

But here description clouds each shining ray, 
What terms of Art can Nature's powers display ! 
The lighter Sails, for Summer winds and seas, 
Are now dismissed the straining masts to ease ; 
Swift on the deck the stud-sails all descend, 
Which ready Seamen from the Yards unbend ; 
The Boats then hoisted in are fixed on board, 
And on the Deck with fastening Gripes secured. 
The watchful ruler of the helm, no more 
With fixed attention eyes th' adjacent shore, 
But by the oracle of truth below, 
The wonderous Magnet, guides the wayward prow 
The powerful Sails with steady breezes swelled, 
Swift and more swift the yielding bark impelled : 
Across her stem the parting Waters run, 
As Clouds, by Tempests wafted, pass the Sun. 
Impatient thus she darts along the shore, 
Till Ida's mount, and Jove's, are seen no more ; 
And, while aloof from Retimo she steers, 
Malacha's foreland full in front appears. 
Wide o'er yon Isthmus stands the cypress Grove 
That once inclosed the hallowed fane of Jove ; 



TOP-SAILS LOWERED. 57 

Here too, memorial of his name ! is found 

A Tomb in marble ruins on the ground : 

This gloomy tyrant, whose despotic sway 

Compelled the trembling Nations to obey, 

Thro' Greece for murder, rape, and incest known, 

The Muses raised to high Olympus' throne; 

For oft, alas! their venal Strains adorn 

The Prince, whom blushing Virtue holds in scorn : 

Still Rome and Greece record his endless fame, 

And hence yon Mountain yet retains his name. 

But see ! in confluence borne before the Blast, 
Clouds rolled on clouds the dusky Noon o'ercast : 
The blackening Ocean curls, the Winds arise, 
And the dark Scud in swift succession flies. 
While the swoln canvass bends the Masts on high, 
Low in the wave the leeward cannon lie. 
The Master calls to give the Ship relief, 
The Topsails lower, and form a single reef! 
Each lofty Yard with slackened cordage reels; 
Rattle the creaking blocks and ringing wheels. 
Down the tall Masts the top-sails sink amain, 
Are manned and reefed, then hoisted up again. 



58 THE SQUALL. 

More distant grew receding Candia's shore, 
And southward of the west Cape Spado bore. 

Four hours the Sun his high meridian throne 
Had left, and o'er Atlantic regions shone; 
Still blacker clouds that all the skies invade, 
Draw o'er his sullied orb a dismal shade. 
A lowering Squall obscures the southern sky, 
Before whose sweeping breath the waters fly ; 
Its weight the Top-sails can no more sustain — 
Reef Top-Sails, reef! the Master calls again. 
The halyards and top-bow-lines soon are gone, 
To clue-lines and reef-tackles next they run : 
The shivering Sails descend ; the Yards are square ; 
Then quick aloft the ready Crew repair : 
The weather-earings, and the lee, they past, 
The reefs enrolled, and every point made fast. 
Their Task above thus finished, they descend, 
And vigilant th' approaching Squall attend : 
It comes resistless ! and with foaming sweep 
Upturns the whitening surface of the Deep : 
In such a Tempest, borne to deeds of death, 
The Wayward Sisters scour the blasted heath. 



THE SQUALL. 59 

The Clouds, with ruin pregnant, now impend, 
And Storm, and Cataracts, tumultuous blend. 
Deep, on her side, the reeling Vessel lies : 
Brail up the Mizen quick ! the Master cries, 
Man the clue-garnets! let the Main-Sheet fly I 
It rends in thousand shivering shreds on high ! 
The Main-Sail all in streaming ruins tore, 
Loud fluttering, imitates the thunder's roar : 
The Ship still labours in th' oppressive strain, 
Low bending, as if ne'er to rise again. 
Bear up the helm a-weather! Rodmond cries, 
Swift at the word the helm a-weather flies; 
She feels its guiding power, and veers apace, 
And now the Fore-Sail right athwart they brace : 
With equal sheets restrained, the bellying Sail 
Spreads a broad concave to the sweeping Gale. 
While o'er the foam the Ship impetuous flies, 
The Helm th' attentive Timoneer applies : 
As in pursuit along th' aerial way 
With ardent eye the Falcon marks his prey, 
Each motion watches of the doubtful chace, 
Obliquely wheeling through the fluid space; 



60 ANOTHER MAIN-SAIL BENT. 

So, governed by the Steersman's glowing hands, 
The regent Helm her motion still commands. 

But now, the transient Squall to leeward past, 
Again she rallies to the sullen blast : 
The Helm to starboard moves ; each shivering Sail 
Is sharply trimmed to clasp th' augmenting Gale— 
The Mizen draws; she springs aloof once more, 
While the fore Stay-Sail balances before. 
The Fore-Sail braced obliquely to the wind, 
They near the prow th' extended Tack confm'd : 
Then on the leeward Sheet the seamen bend, 
And haul the. bow-line to the Bowsprit-end. 
To Top-Sails next they haste : the bunt-lines gone ! 
Through rattling blocks the Clue-lines swiftly run; 
Th' extending Sheets on either side are mann'd, 
Abroad they come ! the fluttering Sails expand ; 
The Yards again ascend each comrade Mast, 
The Leeches taught, the Halyards are made fast, 
The Bow-lines hauled, and Yards to starboard braced. 
And straggling ropes in pendent order placed. 

The Main-Sail, by the Squall so lately rent, 
In streaming pendants flying, is unbent: 



PORPOISES. 61 

With brails refixed, another soon prepar'd, 
Ascending, spreads along beneath the Yard. 
To each yard-arm the head-rope they extend, 
And soon their earings and their robans bend. 
That task performed, they first the braces slack, 
Then to the Chesstree drag th' unwilling Tack. 
And, while the lee clue-garnet's lowered away, 
Taught aft the Sheet they tally, and belay. 

Now to the north, from Afric's burning shore, 
A troop of Porpoises their course explore ; 
In curling wreaths they gambol on the tide, 
Now bound aloft, now down the billow glide : 
Their tracks awhile the hoary Waves retain, 
That burn in sparkling trails along the Main — 
These fleetest Coursers of the finny race 
When threatening Clouds th' etherial vault deface, 
Their route to leeward still sagacious form, 
To shun the fury of th' approaching Storm. 

III. Fair Candia now no more beneath her lee 
Protects the Vessel from th' insulting Sea ; 
Round her broad arms impatient of control, 
Roused from the secret Deep, the billows roll : 



02 DRIVEN OUT OF HER COURSE. 

Sunk were the bulwarks of the friendly Shore, 
And all the scene an hostile aspect wore. 
The flattering Wind, that late with promised aid 
From Candia's bay th' unwilling Ship betray'd, 
No longer fawns beneath the fair disguise, 
But like a ruffian on his quarry flies : 
Tost on the tide she feels the tempest blow, 
And dreads the vengeance of so fell a foe — 
As the proud Horse with costly trappings gay, 
Exulting, prances to the bloody fray ; 
Spurning the ground he glories in his might, 
But reels tumultuous in the shock of fight : 
E'en so, caparisoned in gaudy pride, 
The bounding Vessel dances on the tide. 

Fierce and more fierce the gathering Tempest grew, 
South, and by West, the threatening Demon blew: 
Auster's resistless force all air invades, 
And every rolling Wave more ample spreads. 
The Ship no longer can her top-sails bear ; 
No hopes of milder weather now appear. 
Bowlines and Halyards are cast off again, 
Clue-lines hauled down, and Sheets let fly amain : 



TOP-SAILS FURLED. 63 

Embrailed each Top-sail, and by braces squar'd, 
The Seamen climb aloft and man each Yard ; 
They furled the Sails, and pointed to the wind 
The Yards, by rolling tackles then confined, 
While o'er the Ship the gallant Boatswain flies ; 
Like a hoarse mastiff through the Storm he cries, 
Prompt to direct th' unskilful still appears, 
Th' expert he praises, and the timid cheers. 
Now some, to strike Top-gallant-Yards attend, 
Some, Travelers up the weather-back -stays send, 
At each mast-head the Top-ropes others bend. 
The Parrels, Lifts, and Clue-lines soon are gone, 
Topped and unrigged, they down the back-stays run ; 
The Yards secure along the Booms were laid, 
And all the flying ropes aloft belay'd. 
Their Sails reduced, and all the rigging clear, 
Awhile the Crew relax from toils severe ; 
Awhile their spirits with fatigue opprest, 
In vain expect th' alternate hour of rest— 
But with redoubling force the Tempests blow, 
And watery hills in dread succession flow : 
A dismal shade o'ercasts the frowning Skies, 
New troubles grow; fresh difficulties rise; 



64 COURSES REEFED. 

No season this from duty to descend, 

All hands on deck must now the Storm attend. 

His race performed, the sacred Lamp of day 
Now dipt in western clouds his parting ray : 
His languid fires, half lost in ambient haze, 
Refract along the dusk a crimson blaze ; 
Till deep immerged the sickening orb descends, 
And cheerless Night o'er Heaven her reign extends. 
Sad Evening's hour, how different from the past ! 
No flaming pomp, no blushing glories cast, 
No ray of friendly light is seen around ; 
The Moon and Stars in hopeless shade are drown'd. 

The Ship no longer can whole courses bear, 
To reef them now becomes the Master's cai*e; 
The Sailors summoned aft all ready stand, 
And man th' enfolding Brails at his command : 
But here the doubtful Officers dispute, 
Till skill, and judgment, prejudice confute: 
For Rodmond, to new methods still a foe, 
Would first, at all events, the Sheet let go ; 
To long-tried practice obstinately warm 
He doubts conviction, and relies on form. 



THE TACK CAST OFF. 65 

This Albert and Arion disapprove, 
And first to brail the tack up firmly move : 
<e The watchful Seaman, whose sagacious eye 
" On sure experience may with truth rely, 
" Who from the reigning Cause for et els tJC Effect, 
" This barbarous practice ever will reject ; 
" For, fluttering loose in air, the rigid Sail 
" Soon flits to ruins in the furious Gale; 
" And he, who strives the Tempest to disarm, 
" Will never first embrail the lee Yard- Arm" 
So Albert spoke; to windward, at his call, 
Some Seamen the clue-garnet stand to haul — 
The Tack's eased off; while the involving Clue 
Between the pendent blocks ascending flew ; 
The Sheet and weather-brace they now stand by, 
The lee clue-garnet, and the bunt-lines ply : 
Then, all prepared, Let go the Sheet! he cries- 
Loud rattling, jarring, through the blocks it flies! 
Shivering at first, till by the Blast impelled 
High o'er the lee yard-arm the Canvass swelled ; 
By spilling-lines embraced, with brails confin'd, 
It lies at length unshaken by the wind. 



6Q COURSES REEFED. 

The Foresail then secured with equal care, 
Again to reef the Mainsail they repair ; 
While some above the Yard o'er-haul the tye, 
Below, the down-haul Tackle others ply, 
Jears, lifts and brails, a seaman each attends, 
And down the mast its mighty Yard descends : 
When lowered sufficient they securely brace, 
And fix the rolling tackle in its place ; 
The reef-lines and their earings now prepared, 
Mounting on pliant shrouds they man the Yard : 
Far on th' extremes appear two able hands, 
For no inferior skill this task demands — 
To windward, foremost, young Arion strides, 
The lee yard-arm the gallant Boatswain rides : 
Each Earing to its Cringle first they bend, 
The Reef-band then along the yard extend; 
The circling Earings round th* extremes entwin'd, 
By outer and by inner turns they bind; 
The Reef-lines next from hand to hand received, 
Through eyelet-holes and roban-legs were reeved ; 
The folding Reefs in plaits inrolled they lay, 
Extend the worming lines, and ends belay. 



FOUR SEAMEN LOST. 67 

Hadst thou, Arion ! held the leeward post 
While on the Yard by mountain billows tost, 
Perhaps Oblivion o'er our tragic tale 
Had then for ever drawn her dusky veil ; 
But ruling Heaven prolonged thy vital date, 
Severer ills to suffer, and relate. 

For, while aloft the order those attend 
To furl the Mainsail, or on deck descend ; 
A Sea, up-surging with stupendous roll, 
To instant ruin seems to doom the whole : 
O friends, secure your hold! Arion cries — 
It comes all dreadful ! down the Vessel lies 
Half buried sideways; while, beneath it tost, 
Four Seamen off the lee yard-arm are lost : 
Torn with resistless fury from their hold, 
In vain their struggling arms the Yard enfold ; 
In vain to grapple flying ropes they try, 
The Ropes, alas ! a solid gripe deny : 
Prone on the midnight Surge with panting breath 
They cry for aid, and long contend with Death; 
High o'er their heads the rolling Billows sweep, 
And down they sink in everlasting sleep — 



68 DREADFUL SUSPENSE. 

Bereft of power to help, their Comrades see 
The wretched victims die beneath the lee, 
With fruitless sorrow their lost state bemoan. 
Perhaps a fatal prelude to their own ! 

In dark Suspense on deck the Pilots stand, 
Nor can determine on the next command : 
Though still they knew the Vessel's armed side 
Impenetrable to the clasping Tide ; 
Though still the waters by no secret wound 
A passage to her deep recesses found ; 
Surrounding evils yet they ponder o'er, 
A storm, a dangerous sea, and leeward shore ! 
" Should they, tho' reefed, again their Sails extend, 
" Again in shivering streamers they may rend ; 
" Or, should they stand, beneath th' oppressive strain 
" The down-pressed Ship may never rise again; 
" Too late to weather now Morea's land, 
" And drifting fast on Athens' rocky strand" — 
Thus they lament the consequence severe, 
Where perils unallayed by Hope appear: 
Long pondering in their minds each feared event, 
At last to furl the Courses they consent; 



MIZEN REEFED. 69 

That done, to reef the Mizen next agree 
And try beneath it sidelong in the Sea. 

Now down the mast the Yard they lower away. 
Then jears and topping-lift secure belay ; 
The Head, with doubling canvass fenced around, 
In balance near the lofty peak they bound ; 
The Reef enwrapped, th' inserted knittles tied, 
The halyards throt and peak are next applied— 
The Order given, the Yard aloft they swayed, 
The brails relaxed, th' extended Sheet belayed ; 
The Helm its post forsook, and, lashed a-lee, 
Inclined the wayward prow to front the sea. 

IV. When sacred Orpheus on the Stygian coast \ 
With notes divine deplored his Consort lost; 
Though round him perils grew in fell array, 
And Fates and Furies stood to bar his way ; 
Not more adventurous was th' attempt, to move 
Th' infernal Powers with strains of heavenly love, 
Than mine, in ornamental Verse to dress 
The harshest sounds that terms of art express : 
Such arduous toil sage D^idalus endured 
In mazes, self-invented, long immured, 



70 FIRMNESS OF SEAMEN. 

Till Genius her superior aid bestow'd, 

To guide him through that intricate abode — 

Thus, long imprisoned in a rugged way 

Where Phoebus' daughters never aimed to stray, 

The Muse, that tuned to barbarous sounds her string, 

Now spreads, like D^dalus, a bolder wing; 

The Verse begins in softer strains to flow, 

Replete with sad variety of woe. 

As yet amid this elemental war, 
Where Desolation in his gloomy car 
Triumphant rages round the starless void, 
And Fate on every billow seems to ride ; 
Nor toil, nor hazard, nor distress appear 
To sink the Seamen with unmanly fear: 
Though their firm hearts no pageant-honour boast, 
They scorn the wretch that trembles at his post; 
Who from the face of clanger strives to turn, 
Indignant from the social hour they spurn : 
Though now full oft they felt the raging Tide 
In proud rebellion climb the Vessel's side; 
Though every rising Wave more dreadful grows, 
And in succession dire the Deck o'erflows ; 



THE MASTER'S ANXIETY. 71 

No future ills unknown their souls appal, 
They know no Danger, or they scorn it all: 
But e'en the generous spirits of the Brave 
Subdued by toil, a friendly respite crave; 
They, with severe fatigue alone opprest, 
Would fain indulge an interval of rest. 

Far other cares the Master's mind employ, 
Approaching Perils all his hopes destroy : 
In vain he spreads the graduated Chart, 
And bounds the distance by the rules of art; 
Across the geometric Plane expands 
The compasses to circumjacent lands; 
Ungrateful task ! for, no asylum found, 
Death yawns on every leeward shore around — 
While Albert thus, with horrid doubts dismayed, 
The geometric distances surveyed; 
On deck the watchful Rodmond cries aloud, 
Secure your lives ! grasp every man a Shroud — 
Roused from his trance, he mounts with eyes aghast ; 
When o'er the Ship, in undulation vast, 
A giant Surge down rushes from on high, 
And fore and aft dissevered ruins lie: 



72 PUMPS WORKED INCESSANTLY. 

As when, Britannia's Empire to maintain, 
Great Hawke descends in thunder on the Main, 
Around the brazen voice of battle roars, 
And fatal lightnings blast the hostile shores ; 
Beneath the Storm their shattered Navies groan ; 
The trembling Deep recoils from zone to zone— 
Thus the torn Vessel felt th' enormous stroke, 
The Boats beneath the thundering deluge broke ; 
Torn from their planks the cracking ring-bolts drew, 
And gripes and lashings all asunder flew ; 
Companion, Binacle, in floating wreck, 
With Compasses and Glasses strewed the Deck ; 
The balanced Mizen, rending to the head, 
In fluttering fragments from its bolt rope fled ; 
The Sides convulsive shook on groaning Beams, 
And, rent with labour, yawned their pitchy Seams. 

They sound the Well, and, terrible to hear! 
Five feet immersed along the Line appear; 
At either Pump they ply the clanking brake, 
And, turn by turn, th' ungrateful office take : 
RoDxMond, Arion and Palemon here 
At this sad Task all diligent appear — 



LEAKS GAIN UPON THEM. 73 

As some strong Citadel begirt with foes 
Tries long the tide of ruin to oppose, 
Destruction near her spreads his black array. 
And Death and Sorrow mark his horrid way ; 
Till, in some destined hour, against her wall 
In tenfold rage the fatal thunders fall ; 
It breaks ! it bursts before the cannonade ! 
And following hosts the shattered Domes invade : 
Her inmates long repel the hostile Flood, 
And shield their sacred charge in streams of blood : 
So the brave Mariners their Pumps attend, 
And help incessant, by rotation, lend ; 
But all in vain ! for now the sounding Cord 
Updrawn, an undiminished depth explor'd. 
Nor this severe distress is found alone, 
The ribs opprest by ponderous Cannon groan ; 
Deep rolling from the watery volume's height, 
The tortur'd Sides seem bursting with their weight- 
So reels Pelorus with convulsive throes, 
When in his veins the burning Earthquake glows; 
Hoarse through his entrails roars th' infernal flame, 
And central Thunders rend his groaning frame — 



74 GUNS THROWN OYERBOARJ). 

Accumulated mischiefs thus arise, 

And Fate, vindictive, all their skill defies : 

For this, one remedy is only known, 

From the torn Ship her metal must be thrown ; 

Eventful Task ! which last distress requires, 

And dread of instant Death alone inspires : 

For, while intent the yawning decks to ease 

Filled ever and anon with rushing Seas, 

Some fatal billow with recoiling sweep 

May whirl the helpless Wretches in the Deep. 

No season this for counsel or delay ; 
Too soon th' eventful moments haste away ! 
Here Perseverance, with each help of Art, 
Must join the boldest efforts of the heart; 
These only now their Misery can relieve, 
These only now a dawn of safety give : 
While o'er the quivering deck from van to rear 
Broad surges roll in terrible career, 
Rodmond, Arton and a chosen crew 
This office in the face of death pursue ; 
The wheeled Artillery o'er the deck to guide, 
Rodmond descending claimed the weather-side; 



GUNS THROWN OVERBOARD. 75 

Fearless of heart the Chief his orders gave, 
Fronting the rude assaults of every Wave- 
Like some strong Watch tower nodding o'er the 

Deep, 
Whose rocky base the foaming waters sweep, 
Untamed he stood ; the stern aerial war 
Had marked his honest face with many a scar; 
Meanwhile Arion traversing the Waist 
The cordage of the leeward-guns unbraced, 
And pointed crows beneath the Metal placed— 
Watching the roll, their forelocks they withdrew, 
And from their beds the reeling Cannon threw; 
Then, from the windward battlements unbound, 
Rodmond's associates wheeled th' artillery round, 
Pointed with iron fangs, their bars beguile 
The ponderous Arms across the steep defile; 
Then, hurled from sounding hinges o'er the side, 
Thundering they plunge into the flashing Tide. 

The Ship, thus eased, some little respite finds 
In this rude conflict of the Seas and Winds— 
Such ease Alcides felt when, clogged with gore, 
Th' envenom'd Mantle from his side he tore, 



76 TREMENDOUS SEA. 

When, stung with burning pain, he strove too late 
To stop the swift career of cruel Fate ; 
Yet then his heart one ray of Hope procured, 
Sad harbinger of sevenfold pangs endured — 
Such, and so short, the pause of woe She found ! 
Cimmerian darkness shades the Deep around, 
Save when the lightnings in terrific blaze 
Deluge the cheerless gloom with horrid rays : 
Above, all Ether fraught with scenes of woe 
With grim destruction threatens all below; 
Beneath, the storm-lashed Surges furious rise, 
And wave uprolled on wave assails the skies ; 
With ever-floating bulwarks they surround 
The Ship, half swallowed in the black profound. 

With ceaseless hazard and fatigue opprest, 
Dismay and anguish every heart possest ; 
For while, with sweeping inundation o'er 
The sea-beat Ship, the booming Waters roar, 
Displaced beneath by her capacious womb, 
They rage their ancient station to resume ; 
By secret ambushes, their force to prove, 
Through many a winding channel first they rove ; 



77 

Till gathering fury, like the fevered blood, 
Through her dark veins they roll a rapid flood : 
When unrelenting thus the Leaks they found, 
The clattering Pumps with clanking strokes resound j 
Around each leaping valve, by toil subdued, 
The tough bull-hide must ever be renewed : 
Their sinking hearts unusual horrors chill, 
And down their weary limbs thick dews distil ; 
No ray of light their dying Hope redeems, 
Pregnant with some new woe, each moment teems. 

Again the Chief th' instructive Chart extends, 
And o'er the figured plane attentive bends; 
To him the motion of each orb was known 
That wheels around the Sun's refulgent throne ; 
But here, alas ! his Science nought avails, 
Skill droops unequal, and experience fails : 
The different Traverses, since twilight made.. 
He on the hydrographic circle laid ; 
Then, in the graduated Arch contained, 
The angle of lee-way, seven points, remained— 
Her place discovered by the rules of art, 
Unusual terrors shook the Master's heart 



78 FALCONERA, ST. GEORGE, GARDALOR. 

When, on th' immediate line of drift, he found 

The rugged Isle, with rocks and breakers bound, 

Of Falconera, distant only now 

Nine lessening leagues beneath the leeward bow: 

For, if on those destructive shallows tost, 

The helpless Bark with all her Crew are lost; 

As fatal still appears, that danger o'er, 

The steep St. George, and rocky Gardalor. 

With him the Pilots, of their hopeless state 

In mournful consultation long debate — 

Not more perplexing doubts her Chiefs appal 

When some proud City verges to her fall, 

While ruin glares around, and pale affright 

Convenes her Councils in the dead of night. 

No blazoned Trophies o'er their Concave spread, 

Nor storied Pillars raised aloft their head: 

But here the Queen of shade around them threw 

Her dragon wing, disastrous to the view i 

Dire was the Scene with whirlwind, hail and shower ; 

Black Melancholy ruled the fearful hour : 

Beneath, tremendous rolled the flashing Tide 

Where Fate on everv billow seemed to ride — 



Albert's speech. 79 

Inclosed with ills, by Peril unsubdued, 
Great in Distress the Master-Seaman stood ! 
Skilled to command ; deliberate to advise ; 
Expert in action ; and in council wise — 
Thus to his partners, by the Crew unheard, 
The dictates of his soul, the Chief referred : 

" Ye faithful Mates ! who all my troubles share, 
" Approved Companions of your Master's care! 
" To you, alas ! 'twere fruitless now to tell 
" Our sad distress, already known too well : 
" This Morn with favouring gales the Port we left, 
iC Though now of every flattering Hope bereft : 
" No Skill nor long Experience could forecast 
" Th' unseen approach of this destructive Blast ; 
i( These Seas, where Storms at various seasons blow, 
" No reigning Winds nor certain omens know. 
<e The hour, th' occasion, all your skill demands, 
" A leaky Ship, embayed by dangerous lands ! 
ft Our Bark no transient jeopardy surrounds, 
<c Groaning she lies beneath unnumbered wounds : 
<e 'Tis ours the doubtful remedy to find, 
" To shun the fury of the Seas and Wind ; 



80 

" For in this hollow Swell, with labour sore, 

" Her flank can bear the bursting floods no more. 

" One only shift, though desperate, we must try, 

" And that, before the boisterous Storm to fly : 

" Then less her sides will feel the Surges power, 

" Which thus may soon the foundering hull devour. 

" 'Tis true, the Vessel and her costly freight 

' s To me consigned, my orders only wait ; 

" Yet, since the charge of every life is mine, 

" To equal votes our counsels I resign — • 

" Forbid it, Heaven ! that in this dreadful hour 

te I claim the dangerous reins of purblind Power ! 

" But should we now resolve to bear away, 

" Our hopeless state can suffer no delay: 

" Nor can we, thus bereft of every Sail, 

" Attempt to steer obliquely on the Gale; 

" For then, if broaching sideway to the sea, 

" Our dropsied Ship may founder by the lee; 

" Vain all endeavours then to bear away, 

" Nor Helm, nor Pilot, would she more obey." 

He said: the listening Mates with fixed regard, 
And silent reverence, his opinion heard ; 



RODMOND S SPEECH. 81 

Important was the question in debate, 

And o'er their counsels hung impending Fate. 

Rodmond, in many a scene of Peril tried, 

Had oft the Master's happier skill descried ; 

Yet now, the hour, the scene, th' occasion known, 

Perhaps with equal right preferred his own : 

Of long experience in the Naval Art, 

Blunt was his Speech, and naked was his Heart; 

Alike to him each Climate, and each Blast, 

The first in danger, in retreat the last: 

Sagacious, balancing th' opposed Events, 

From Albert his opinion thus dissents — 

" Too true the perils of the present hour 
" Where toils succeeding toils our strength o'er- 

power ! 
" Our Bark 'tis true no shelter here can find, 
" Sore shattered by the ruffian Seas and Wind: 
" Yet where with safety can we dare to scud 
" Before this Tempest, and pursuing Flood ? 
" At random driven, to present death we haste, 
" And one short hour perhaps may be our last : 
" Though Corinth's gulf extend along the lee 
" To whose safe Ports appears a passage free, 

G 



82 RODMOND S SPEECH. 

u Yet think ! this furious unremitting Gale 

" Deprives the Ship of every ruling sail ; 

" And if before it she directly flies, 

" New ills enclose us and new dangers rise : 

" Here Falcon era spreads her lurking snares, 

" There distant Greece her rugged Shelves pre- 

" pares ; 
" Our Hull, if once it strikes that iron Coast, 
" Asunder bursts, in instant ruin lost; 
" Nor she alone, but with her all the crew, 
" Beyond relief, are doomed to perish too : 
" Such mischiefs follow if we bear away, 
" O safer that sad refuge — to delay ! 

" Then of our purpose this appears the scope, 
" To weigh the Danger with the doubtful hope : 
" Though sorely buffetted by every Sea, 
" Our Hull unbroken long may try a-lee; 
" The Crew, though harassed much with toils severe, 
" Still at their pumps, perceive no hazards near : 
(( Shall we incautious then the danger tell, 
i( At once' their courage and their hope to quell? 
" Prudence forbids ! this southern Tempest soon 
" May change its quarter with the changing Moon; 



ARION S CHARACTER. 83 

" Its rage, though terrible, may soon subside, 

" Nor into mountains lash th' unruly Tide : 

" These leaks shall then decrease — the sails once 

" more 
" Direct our course to some relieving Shore." 

Thus while he spoke, around from man to man 
At either Pump a hollow murmur ran : 
For while the Vessel through unnumbered chinks, 
Above, below, th' invading water drinks, 
Sounding her depth they eyed the wetted scale, 
And lo ! the Leaks o'er all their powers prevail : 
Yet at their post, by terrors unsubdued, 
They with redoubling force their task pursued. 

And now the senior Pilots seemed to wait 
Arion's voice, to close the dark debate ; 
Not o'er his vernal life the ripening Sun 
Had yet progressive twice ten Summers run : 
Slow to debate, yet eager to excel, 
In thy sad school, stern Neptune ! taught |oo well: 
With lasting pain to rend his youthful heart, 
Dire Fate in venom dipt her keenest dart; 
Till his firm Spirit, tempered long to ill, 
Forgot her persecuting scourge to feel : 



84 ARION S SPP^ECH. 

But now the Horrors that around him roll, 
Thus roused to action his rekindling Soul : 

" Can we, delayed in this tremendous Tide, 
" A moment pause what purpose to decide ; 
' ' Alas ! from circling Horrors thus combined, 
<e One method of relief alone we find : 
" Thus water-logged, thus helpless to remain 
" Amid this hollow, how ill judged! how vain! 
" Our sea-breacht Vessel can no longer bear 
" The floods, that o'er her burst in dread career ; 
" The labouring Hull already seems half filled 
" With water through an hundred Leaks distilled; 
" Thus drenched by every Wave, her riven deck 
" Stript, and defenceless, floats a naked Wreck ; 
" At every pitch th' o'erwhelming billows bend 
( ' Beneath their load the quivering Bowsprit's end ; 
<( A fearful warning ! since the Masts on high 
" On that support with trembling hope rely ; 
" At either Pump our Seamen pant for breath, 
" In dire dismay, anticipating Death; 
" Still all our powers th' increasing Leaks defy, 
" We sink at sea, no shore, no haven nigh : 



AETON S SPEECH. 8$ 

i( One dawn of hope yet breaks athwart the gloom 
" To light and save us from a watery tomb, 
" That bids us shun the death impending here, 
il Fly from the following blast, and shoreward steer. 

(c 'Tis urged indeed, the fury of the Gale 
" Precludes the help of every guiding sail ; 
" And, driven before it on the watery waste, 
Ci To rocky shores and scenes of death we haste ; 
" But haply Falcon era we may shun, 
" And long to Grecian coasts is yet the run : 
" Less harassed then, our scudding Ship may bear 
" Th' assaulting Surge repelled upon her rear, 
" And since as soon that Tempest may decay 
" When steering shoreward, — wherefore thus delay ? 
" Should we at last be driven by dire decree 
e{ Too near the fatal margin of the Sea, 
" The Hull dismasted there awhile may ride 
" With lengthened cables, on the raging tide ; 
" Perhaps kind Heaven, with interposing power, 
iC May curb the Tempest ere that dreadful hour ; 
" But here ingulfed and foundering, while we stay 
" Fate hovers o'er and marks us for her prey." 



86 palemon's despondency. 

He said: Palemon saw with grief of heart 
The Storm prevailing o'er the Pilot's art; 
In silent terror and distress involved, 
He heard their last alternative resolved : 
High beat his bosom — with such fear subdued, 
Beneath the gloom of some enchanted wood, 
Oft in old time the wandering Swain explored 
The midnight Wizards, breathing rites abhorred ; 
Trembling approached their incantations fell, 
And chilled with horror heard the Songs of hell. 
Arion saw, with secret anguish moved, 
The deep affliction of the friend he loved, 
And all awake to Friendship's genial heat 
His bosom felt consenting tremors beat : 
Alas ! no season this for tender love, 
Far hence the music of the myrtle grove — 
He tried with soft persuasion's melting lore 
Palemon's fainting Courage to restore; 
His wounded Spirit healed with friendship's balm, 
And bade each conflict of the Mind be calm. 

Now had the Pilots all th' events revolved 
And on their final refuge thus resolved — 



Albert's exhortation. 87 

When, like the faithful Shepherd, who beholds 
Some prowling Wolf approach his fleecy folds, 
To the brave Crew, whom racking doubts perplex, 
The dreadful purpose Albert thus directs: 
fi Unhappy partners in a wayward fate ! 
ie Whose courage now is known perhaps too late ; 
" Ye ! who unmoved behold this angry Storm 
" In conflict all the rolling Deep deform, 
" Who, patient in Adversity, still bear 
6 ' The firmest front when greatest ills are near ; 
" The truth, though painful, I must now reveal, 
" That long in vain I purposed to conceal : 
" Ingulfed, all help of art we vainly try 
<( To weather leeward Shores, alas ! too nigh : 
" Our crazy Bark no longer can abide 
' ' The Seas, that thunder o'er her battered side ; 
" And, while the leaks a fatal warning give 
" That in this raging Sea she cannot live, 
" One only refuge from despair we find — 
" At once to wear and scud before the wind : 
" Perhaps e'en then to ruin we may steer, 
' ' For rocky Shores beneath our lee appear ; 
* But that's remote, and instant Death is here : 



88 Albert's exhortation. 

" Yet there, by Heaven's assistance, we may gain 
" Some creek or inlet of the Grecian main ; 
<( Or, sheltered by some Rock, at anchor ride 
(< Till with abating rage the Blast subside : 
" But if, determined by the will of Heaven, 
" Our helpless Bark at last ashore is driven, 
" These councils followed, from a watery grave 
" Our Crew perhaps amid the Surf may save — 

" And first, let all our axes be secured 
" To cut the Masts and Rigging from aboard ; 
C( Then to the Quarters bind each plank and oar 
(C To float between the Vessel and the shore: 
" The longest Cordage too must be conveyed 
te On deck, and to the weather-rails belayed : 
<{ So they, who haply reach alive the Land, 
tc Th' extended lines may fasten on the strand, 
" Whene'er, loud thundering on the leeward shore, 
" While yet aloof, we hear the breakers roar : 
" Thus for the terrible Event prepar'd, 
' ' Brace fore and aft to starboard every Yard ; 
" So shall our Masts swim lighter on the wave, 
" And from the broken Rocks our Seamen save; 



Albert's fxhortation. 89 

" Then westward turn the Stem, that every Mast 

(( May shoreward fall as from the Vessel cast — 

" When o'er her side once more the billows bound, 

(i Ascend the rigging till she strikes the ground ; 

" And when you hear aloft the dreadful shock 

" That strikes her bottom on some pointed rock, 

(i The boldest of our Sailors must descend 

ec The dangerous business of the Deck to tend ; 

<e Then burst the Hatches off, and every Stay 

" And every fastening Lanyard cut away, 

' ' Planks, Gratings, Booms and Rafts to leeward cast ; 

" Then with redoubled strokes attack each Mast, 

" That buoyant lumber may sustain you o'er 

<{ The rocky Shelves and Ledges to the Shore : 

" Bat as your firmest succour, till the last 

" O cling securely on each faithful Mast! 

u Though great the danger, and the task severe, 

" Yet bow not to the tyranny of Fear ; 

" If once that slavish yoke your souls subdue, 

" Adieu to Hope ! to Life itself adieu ! 

" I know among you some have oft beheld 
" A blood-hound train, by rapine's lust impell'd, 



90 Albert's exhortation. 

" On England's cruel coast impatient stand, 
" To rob theWanderers wrecked upon their strand : 
" These, while their savage office they pursue, 
u Oft wound to death the helpless plundered Crew 
" Who, 'scaped from every horror of the main, 
(( Implored their mercy, but implored in vain : 
" Yet dread not this, a Crime to Greece unknown, 
" Such bloodhounds all her circling shores disown ; 
<( Who, though by barb'rous tyranny opprest, 
" Can share affliction with the wretch distrest: 
" Their hearts, by cruel fate inured to grief, 
<e Oft to the friendless Stranger yield relief." 

With conscious horror struck the naval band 
Detested for a while their Native Land ; 
They cursed the sleeping vengeance of the Laws 
That thus forgot her guardian Sailor's cause. 

Meanwhile the Master's voice again they heard, 
Whom, as with filial duty, all revered : 
" No more remains — but now a trusty band 
tl Must ever at the Pumps industrious stand ; 
" And, while with us the rest attend to wear, 
" Two skilful Seamen to the helm repair — » 



Albert's exhortation. 91 

tc And Thou Eternal Power! whose awful sway 

" The Storms revere, and roaring Seas obey! 

(i On thy Supreme assistance we rely; 

" Thy Mercy supplicate, if doomed to die ! 

" Perhaps this Storm is sent with healing breath 

<{ jp r0m neighboring Shores to scourge disease and 

death : 
(C 'Tis ours on thine unerring Lazvs to trust, 
u With thee, great Lord ! ( whatever is, is just." 

He said ; and, with consenting reverence fraught, 
The Sailors joined his Prayer in silent thought: 
His intellectual eye, serenely bright ! 
Saw distant objects with prophetic light — 
Thus in a Land, that lasting Wars oppress, 
That groans beneath misfortune and distress; 
Whose Wealth to conquering armies falls a prey 
Till all her Vigour, Pride and Fame decay ; 
Some bold sagacious Statesman, from the helm 
Sees desolation gathering o'er his Realm; 
He darts around his penetrating eyes 
Where dangers grow, and hostile unions rise ; 
With deep attention marks th' invading Foe, 
Eludes their wiles and frustrates every blow, 



92 THEY BEAR AWAY. 

Tries his last art the tottering State to save, 
Or in its ruins find a glorious Grave. 

Still in the yawning trough the Vessel reels, 
Ingulfed beneath two fluctuating hills ; 
On either side they rise, tremendous Scene ! 
A long dark melancholy vale between : 
The balanced Ship now forward, now behind, 
Still felt th' impression of the Waves and Wind, 
And to the right and left by turns inclined ; 
But Albert from behind the balance drew, 
And on the Prow its double efforts threw. 
The Order now was given to bear away! 
The order given, the Timoneers obey : 
Both stay-sail Sheets to mid-ships were conveyed,. 
And round the Foremast on each side belayed; 
Thus ready, to the Halyards they apply, 
They hoist ! away the flitting ruins fly : 
Yet Albert new resources still prepares, 
Conceals his Grief and doubles all his cares — 
" Away there I lower the mizen-yard on deck" 
He calls, " and brace the foremost yards aback !" 
His great Example every bosom fires, 
New life rekindles and new Hope inspires. 



MIZEN-MAST HEWN DOWN. 94 

While to the Helm unfaithful still she lies, 
One desperate remedy at last he tries— 
" Haste ! with your weapons cut the Shrouds and Stay, 
<f And hew at once the Mizen-mast away !" 
He said : to cut the girding Stay they run, 
Soon on each side the severed Shrouds are gone : 
Fast by the fated Pine bold Rodmond stands, 
Th' impatient axe hung gleaming in his hands ; 
Brandished on high, it fell with dreadful sound, 
The tall Mast groaning felt the deadly wound ; 
Deep gashed beneath, the tottering structure rings, 
And crashing, thundering, o'er the Quarter swings : 
Thus, when some limb convulsed with pangs of death 
Imbibes the gangrene's pestilential breath, 
Th' experienced Artist from the blood betrays 
The latent venom, or its course delays : 
But, if th' infection triumphs o'er his art 
Tainting the vital stream that warms the heart, 
To stop the course of Death's inflaming tides 
Th' infected member from the trunk divides. 

END OF THE SECOND CANTO. 



THIRD CANTO 



The Scene is extended from that part of the Ar- 
chipelago which lies ten miles to the north- 
it' ard of Falconeraj to Cape Colona in At- 
tica. 



THE TIME ABOUT SEVEN HOUitS) FROM ONE, 
UNTIL EIGHT IN THE MORNING. 



ARGUMENT. 

I. Reflections on the beneficial influence of Poetry. . Diffidence of the 
Author. . II. Wreck of the Mizen-Mast cleared away.. . Ship veers 
before the wind, .labours hard. .Different stations of the Officers. . 
Appearance of the Island of Falconer a. . III. Excursion to the 
adjacent Nations of Greece renowned in antiquity. . Athens. . 
Socrates, Plato, Aristides. . Solon. . Corinth . . its Architecture. . 
Sparta. . Leonidas. . Invasion by Xerxes. . Lycurgus. . Epaminon- 
das. .Present state of the Spartans. .Arcadia. .Former happi- 
ness, and fertility. . Its present distress the effect of Slavery.. 
Ithaca ..Ulysses and Penelope. . Argos and My c^ne. .Aga- 
memnon. . Macronisi. . Lemnos. .Vulcan.. Delos.. Apollo and 
Diana.. Troy. . Sestos.. Leander and Hero. . Delphos.. Tem- 
ple of Apollo.. Parnassus.. The Muses. .IV. Subject resumed. . 
Address to the Spirits of the Storm. . ATempest accompanied with 
Rain, Hail, and Meteors. .Darkness of the Night, Lightning and 
Thunder. . Day -break. . St. George's cliffs open upon them. . The 
Ship in great danger passes the Island of St. George. . V. Land of 
Athens appears.. Helmsman struck blind by Lightning. . Ship 
laid broadside to the shore. . Bowsprit, Foremast, and Main Top- 
mast carried away. . Albert, Rodmond, Arion and Pa lemon 
strive to save themselves on the wreck of the Foremast , The 
Ship parts asunder. .Death of Albert and Rodmond. . Arion 
reaches the Shore. . Finds Palemon expiring on the Beach. . his 
dying Address to Arion, who is led away by the humane Na- 
tives. 




X-PococJc pz/tx 



J.FiUlcrj'culy 



fuili/fud Jany.rfo*, by W.MUUr, OU Bond Stre, 



THE THIRD CANTO. 



I. When in a barbarous age,, with blood defil'd. 
The human Savage roamed the gloomy wild; 
When sullen Ignorance her flag di splay ed, 
And Rapine., and Revenge her voice obeyed ; 
Sent from the shores of light the Muses came 
The dark and solitary race to tame, 



H 



98 INFLUENCE OF POETRY. 

The war of lawless Passions to controul, 

To melt in tender sympathy the soul ; 

The heart's remote recesses to explore, 

And touch its springs when Prose availed no more : 

The kindling spirit caught th' empyreal ray, 

And glowed congenial with the swelling lay ; 

Roused from the chaos of primeval Night, 

At once fair Truth and Reason sprung to light. 

When great M .eon ides, in rapid Song, 

The thundering tide of Battle rolls along, 

Each ravished bosom feels the high alarms, 

And all the burning pulses beat to arms; 

Hence, War's terrific glory to display, 

Became the theme of every epic lay : 

But when his strings with mournful magic tell 

What dire distress Laertes' Son befel, 

The strains meand'ring through the maze of woe • 

Bid sacred sympathy the heart o'erflow; 

Far through the boundless realms of Thought he 

springs, 
From earth upborne on Pegasean wings, 
While distant Poets trembling as they view 
His sunward flight, the dazzling track pursue ; 



DIFFIDENCE OF THE AUTHOR. 99 

His magic voice that rouses and delights, 
Allures and guides to climb Olympian Heights: 
But I, alas ! through scenes bewildered stray, 
Far from the light of his unerring ra} r ; 
While, all unused the wayward path to tread, 
Darkling I wander with prophetic dread; 
To me in vain the bold Mseonian lyre 
Awakes the numbers fraught with living fire, 
Full oft indeed that mournful Harp of yore 
Wept the sad Wanderer lost upon the shore ; 
Tis true he lightly sketched the bold design, 
But Toils more joyless, more severe are mine; 
Since o'er that scene his Genius swiftly ran, 
Subservient only to a nobler plan : 
But I, perplexed in labyrinths of Art, 
Anatomize, and blazon every part; 
Attempt with plaintive numbers to display, 
And chain th' Events in regular array; 
Though hard the task to sing in varied strains, 
When still unchanged the same sad Theme remains : 
O could it draw Compassion's melting tear 
For kindred miseries, oft beheld too near ! 



100 SHIP PUT BEFORE THE WIND. 

For kindred wretches, oft in ruin cast 
On Albion's strand beneath the wintery blast; 
For all the pangs,, the complicated woe> 
Her bravest sons, her guardian Sailors know; 
Then every breast should sigh at our distress — 
This were the summit of my hoped success ! 
For this, my Theme through mazes I pursue, 
Which nor M^onides, nor Maro knew. 

II. Awhile the Mast, in ruins dragged behind, 
Balanced th' impression of the helm and wind ; 
The wounded Serpent agonized with pain 
Thus trails his mangled volume on the plain : 
But now, the wreck dissevered from the rear, 
The long reluctant Prow began to veer : 
While round before th' enlarging wind it falls, 
" Square fore and aft the Yards," the Master calls, 
" You timoneers her motion still attend, 
" For on your steerage all our lives depend: 
" So, steady ! meet her ! watch the curving Prow, 
" And from the Gale directly let her go." 
" Starboard again!" the watchful Pilot cries, 
(< Starboard!" th' obedient timoneer replies : 



HEAVY SEA. 10.1 

Then back to port, revolving at command, 

The wheel rolls swiftly through each glowing hand. 

The Ship no longer, foundering by the lee, 

Bears on her side th' invasions of the sea; 

All lonely o'er the desert waste she flies, 

Scourged on by surges, storms, and bursting Skies : 

As when enclosing Harponeers assail 

In Hyperborean Seas the slumb'ring Whale, 

Soon as their javelins pierce his scaly side, 

He groans, he darts impetuous down the tide; 

And racked all o'er with lacerating Pain, 

He flies remote beneath the flood in vain — 

So with resistless haste the wounded Ship 

Scuds from the chacing waves along the deep; 

While, dashed apart by her dividing prow, 

Like burning adamant the waters glow; 

Her joints forget their firm elastic tone, 

Her long keel trembles, and her timbers groan : 

Upheaved behind her in tremendous height 

The billows frown, with fearful radiance bright ; 

Now quivering o'er the topmost wave she rides, 

While deep beneath th' enormous gulf divides; 



102 SHIP LABOURS MUCH. 

Now launching headlong down the horrid vale, 
Becalmed, she hears ho more the howling Gale ; 
Till up the dreadful height again she flies, 
Trembling beneath the current of the skies : 
As that rebellious Angel, who from heaven 
To regions of eternal pain was driven, 
When dreadless he forsook the stygian shore 
The distant realms of Eden to explore; 
Here, on sulphureous Clouds sublime upheaved, 
With daring wing th' infernal air he cleaved ; 
There, in some hideous gulf descending prone, 
Far in the void abrupt of Night was thrown — 
E'en so She climbs the briny mountain's height, 
Then down the black abyss precipitates her flight : 
The Masts, about whose tops the whirlwinds sing, 
With long vibration round her axle swing. 

To guide the wayward Course amid the gloom 
The watchful Pilots different posts assume: 
Albert and Rodmond on the poop appear, 
There to direct each guiding Timoneer; 
While at the bow the watch Art on keeps, 
To shun what Cruisers wander o'er the deeps: 



FALCONERA. 103 

Where'er he moves Palemon still attends. 
As if on him his only hope depends; 
WhileRoDMOND, fearful of some neighbouring shore, 
Cries, ever and anon, Look out afore! 

Thus o'er the flood four hours she scudding flew, 
When Falcon era's rugged Cliffs they view 
Faintly along the larboard bow descried, 
As o'er its mountain tops the lightnings glide ; 
High o'er its summit, through the gloom of night, 
The glimmering Watch Tower cast a mournful light : 
In dire amazement ri vetted they stand, 
And hear the Breakers lash the rugged strand — 
But scarce perceived, when past the beam it flies, 
Swift as the rapid eagle cleaves the skies : 
That danger past reflects a feeble joy, 
But soon returning fears their hope destroy : 
As in th' Atlantic Ocean, when we find 
Some Alp of Ice driv'n southward by the wind, 
The sultry air all sickening pants around, 
In deluges of torrid ether drown'd ; 
Till when the floating Isle approaches nigh, 
In cooling tides th' aerial billows fly: 



104 ADDRESS TO MEMORY. 

Awhile delivered from the scorching heat, 

In gentler tides our feverish pulses beat: 

Such transient pleasure, as they passed this strand, 

A moment bade their throbbing hearts expand ; 

Th' illusive meteors of a lifeless fire, 

Too soon they kindle, and too soon expire. 

III. Say Memory ! thou from whose unerring 
tongue 
Instructive flows the animated song, 
What Regions now the scudding Ship surround ? 
Regions of old through all the World renown'd ; 
That, once the Poet's theme, the Muses' boast, 
Now lie in ruins, in oblivion lost ! 
Did they, whose sad distress these lays deplore, 
Unskilled in Grecian or in Roman lore, 
Unconscious pass along each famous shore? 
They did: for in this desert, joyless Soil, 
No flowers of genial Science deign to smile ; 
Sad Ocean's Genius, in untimely hour, 
Withers the bloom of every springing flower; 
For native Tempests here with blasting breath, 
Despoil, and doom the vernal buds to death ; 



ATHENS. 105 

Here Fancy droops, while sullen clouds, and Storm, 
The generous temper of the Soul deform : 
Then, if among the wandering Naval train, 
One Stripling, exiled from th' Aonian plain, 
Had e'er, entranced in Fancy's soothing dream, 
Approached to taste the sweet Castalian Stream ; 
(Since those salubrious streams, with power divine. 
To purer sense the softened soul refine) 
Sure he, amid unsocial Mates immured, 
To learning lost, severer Grief endured ; 
In vain might Phoebus' ray his mind inspire, 
Since Fate with torrents quenched the kindling fire : 
If one this pain of living death possest, 
It dwelt supreme, Arion ! in thy breast; 
When, with Palemon watching in the night 
Beneath pale Cynthia's melancholy light, 
You oft recounted those surrounding States, 
Whose glory Fame with brazen tongue relates. 

Immortal Athens first, in ruin spread, 
Contiguous lies at Port Liono's head ; 
Great source of Science ! whose immortal name 
Stands foremost in the glorious roll of Fame; 



106 CORINTH, MISITRA. 

Here godlike Socrates, and Plato shone, 
And firm to truth eternal honour won ; 
The first in Virtue's cause his life resign'd, 
By Heaven pronounced the wisest of mankind ; 
The last proclaimed the spark of vital fire 
The Soul's fine essence never could expire; 
Here Solon dwelt, the philosophic Sage 
That fled Pisistratus' vindictive rage; 
Just Aristides here maintained the Cause, 
Whose sacred Precepts shine through Solon's laws : 
Of all her towering Structures, now alone 
Some Columns stand, with mantling Weeds o'ergrown ; 
The wandering stranger near the Port descries 
A milk-white Lion of stupendous size, 
Of antique marble; hence the Haven's name, 
Unknown to modern Natives whence it came. 
Next, in the gulf of Engia, Corinth lies, 
Whose gorgeous fabrics seemed to strike the skies; 
Whom, though by tyrant victors oft subdued, 
Greece, Egypt, Rome, with admiration viewed : 
Her name, for architecture long renowned, 
Spread like the foliage which her Pillars crowned ; 



LEONIDAS, SPARTA. 107 

But now, in fatal desolation laid, 
Oblivion o'er it draws a dismal shade. 

Then farther westward, on Marea's land, 
Fair Misitra! thy modern turrets stand: 
Ah ! who, unmoved with secret woe, can tell 
That here great LacedjEmon's glory fell ; 
Here once she flourished, at whose trumpet's sound 
War burst his chains, and Nations shook around ; 
Here brave LeoniDx^s from shore to shore 
Through all Achaia bade her thunders roar : 
He, when imperial Xerxes from afar 
Advanced with Persia's sumless hosts to war, 
Till Macedonia shrunk beneath his spear, 
And Greece all shuddered as the Chief drew near; 
He, at Thermopylae's decisive plain, 
Their force opposed with Sparta's glorious train ; 
Tall Oeta saw the tyrant's conquered bands 
En gasping millions bleed on hostile lands : 
Thus vanquished, haughty Asia heard thy name, 
And Thebes, and Athens, sickened at thy fame ; 
Thy State, supported by Lycurgus' laws, 
Gained, like thine arms, superlative applause,; 



108 ARCADIA, ITHACA. 

E'en great Epaminondas strove in vain 
To curb thy spirit with a Theban chain : 
But ah ! how low that free-born spirit now ! 
Thy abject sons to haughty tyrants bow ; 
A false, degenerate, superstitious race 
Invest thy region, and its name disgrace. 

Not distant far, Arcadia's blest domains 
Peloponnesus' circling shore contains: 
Thrice happy soil ! where, still serenely gay, 
Indulgent Flora breathed perpetual May ; 
Where buxom Ceres bade each fertile field 
Spontaneous gifts in rich profusion yield; 
Then, with some rural Nymph supremely blest 
While transport glowed in each enamoured breast, 
Each faithful Shepherd told his tender pain, 
And sung of sylvan sports in artless strain ; 
Soft as the happy Swain's enchanting lay 
That pipes among the Shades of Endermay: 
Now, sad reverse ! Oppression's iron hand 
Enslaves her natives, and despoils her land ; 
In lawless rapine bred, a sanguine train 
With midnight ravage scour th' uncultured plain. 



ARGOS, MACRON1SI. 109 

Westward of these, beyond the Isthmus^ lies 
The long sought Isle of Ithacus the wise; 
Where fair Penelope, of him deprived, 
To guard her honour endless schemes contrived : 
She, only shielded by a stripling Son, 
Her lord Ulysses long to Ilion gone, 
Each bold attempt of suitor-kings repelPd, 
And undeflled her nuptial contract held; 
True to her vows, and resolutely chaste, 
Met arts with art, and triumphed at the last. 

Aug os, in Greece forgotten and unknown, 
Still seems her cruel fortune to bemoan; 
Argos, whose monarch led the Grecian hosts 
Across th' iEgean main to Dardan coasts: 
Unhappy Prince ! who on a hostile shore 
Fatigue, and danger, ten long winters bore ; 
And when to native Realms restored at last 
To reap the harvest of thy labours past, 
There found a perjured friend, and faithless wife, 
Who sacrificed to impious lust thy life : 
Fast by Arcadia stretch these desert plains, 
And o'er the land a gloomy tyrant reigns. 



110 DELOS, LEMNOS. 

Next Macro nisi is adjacent seen, 
Where adverse winds detained the Spartan Queen ; 
For whom, in arms combined, the Grecian host 
With vengeance fired, invaded Phrygia's coast; 
For whom so long they laboured to destroy 
The lofty turrets of imperial Troy; 
Here driven by Juno's rage the hapless dame 
Forlorn of heart, from ruined I] ion came : 
The Port an image bears of Parian stone 
Of ancient fabric, but of date unknown. 

Due east from this appears th' immortal shore 
That sacred Phoebus, and Diana bore, 
Delos ! through all th' iEgean seas renown'd, 
Whose coast the rocky Cyclades surround; 
By Phoebus honoured, and by Greece revered, 
Her hallowed groves e'en distant Persia feared : 
But now a desert unfrequented land, 
No human footstep marks the trackless sand. 

Thence to the north by Asia's western bound 
Fair Lemnos stands, with rising marble crown'd; 
Where, in her rage, avenging Juno hurl'd 
Ill-fated Vulcan from th' ethereal world : 



TROY, THRACE. 11 1 

There his eternal anvils first he reared ; 
Then, forged by Cyclopean art, appeared 
Thunders that shook the Skies with dire alarms, 
And, formed by skill divine, immortal arms ; 
There, with this crippled wretch, the foul disgrace 
And living scandal of th' empyreal race, 
In wedlock lived the beauteous Queen of Love ; 
Can such sensations heavenly bosoms move ! 

Eastward of this appears the Dardan shore, 
That once th' imperial Towers of Ilium bore, 
Illustrious Troy ! renowned in every clime 
Through the long records of succeeding time ; 
Who saw protecting Gods from Heaven descend 
Full oft, thy royal bulwarks to defend : 
Though Chiefs unnumbered in her Cause were slain, 
With Fate the gods, and heroes, fought in vain ! 
That refuge of perfidious Helen's shame 
At midnight was involved in Grecian flame ; 
And now, by Time's deep ploughshare harrowed o'er, 
The seat of Sacred Troy is found no more: 
No trace of her proud fabrics now remains, 
But Corn, and Vines, enrich her cultured plains j 



112 HERO AND LEANDER, DELPHI. 

Silver Scamander laves the verdant shore, 
Scamander, oft o'erflowed with hostile gore. 

Not far removed from Ilion's famous land 
In counter- view appears theTHRACiAN Strand, 
Where beauteous Hero, from the turret's height, 
Displayed her cresset each revolving night ; 
Whose gleam directed loved Leander o'er 
The rolling Hellespont from Asia's shore: 
Till in a fated hour, on Thracia's coast 
She saw her lover's lifeless body tost; 
Then felt her bosom agony severe, 
Her eyes, sad gazing, poured th' incessant tear J 
O'erwhelmed with anguish, frantic with despair^ 
She beat her swelling breast, and tore her hair; 
On dear Leakder's name in vain she cried, 
Then headlong plunged into the parting tide : 
Th' exulting tide received the lovely Maid, 
And proudly from the strand its freight convey'd, 

Far west of Thrace, beyond th'iEgean main, 
Remote from Ocean lies the Delphic plain: 
The sacred Oracle of Phoebus there 
High o'er the Mount arose, divinely fair! 



DELPHIC ORACLE. 113 

Achaian marble formed the gorgeous pile, 
August the fabric ! elegant its style ! 
On brazen hinges turned the silver doors, 
And chequered marble paved the polished floors; 
The Roof, where storied tablature appeared, 
On columns of Corinthian mould was reared ; 
Of shining porphyry the Shafts were framed, 
And round the hollow Dome bright jewels flamed: 
Apollo's Priests before the holy shrine 
Suppliant poured forth their Orisons divine, 
To front the Sun's declining ray 'twas placed, 
With golden Harps and branching Laurels graced : 
Around the Fane, engraved by Vulcan's hand, 
The Sciences and Arts were seen to stand; 
Here iEscuLAPius' snake displayed his crest, 
And burning glories sparkled on his breast; 
While from his eye's insufferable light 
Disease and Death recoiled in headlong flight: 
Of this great Temple through all time renown'd, 
Sunk in oblivion, no remains are found. 

Contiguous here, with hallowed woods o'er- 
" spread, 

Renowned Parnassus lifts its honoured head; 

i 



114 PARNASSUS. 

There roses blossom in eternal Spring, 

And strains celestial feathered warblers sing : 

Apollo, here, bestows th' unfading Wreath ; 

Here Zephyrs aromatic odours breathe, 

They o'er Castalian plains diffuse perfume 

Where round the scene perennial Laurels bloom; 

Fair daughters of the Sun, the sacred Nine ! 

Here wake to ecstasy their Harps divine, 

Or bid the Paphian lute mellifluous play 

And tune to plaintive Love the liquid lay ; 

Their numbers every mental storm controul, 

And lull to Harmony th' afflicted soul ; 

With heavenly balm the tortured breast compose, 

And soothe the agony of latent woes : 

The verdant shades that Helicon surround, 

On rosy gales seraphic tunes resound; 

Perpetual Summers crown the happy hours, 

Sweet as the breath that fans Elysian flowers : 

Hence Pleasure dances in an endless round, 

And Love ajid Joy, ineffable, abound. 

IV. Stop wandering thought ! me thinks I feel 
their strains 
Diffuse delicious languor through my veins : 



THEY PUT BEFORE THE WIND. 115 

Adieu ye flow'ry vales, and fragrant scenes, 
Delightful bowers, and ever vernal greens ! 
Adieu ye streams ! that o'er enchanted ground 
In lucid maze th' Aonian hill surround ; 
Ye fairy scenes ! where Fancy loves to dwell, 
And young Delight, for ever, oh, farewell ! 
The Soul with tender luxury you fill, 
And o'er the Sense Lethean dews distil — 
Awake, O Memory! from th' inglorious Dream, 
With brazen lungs resume the kindling theme ; 
Collect thy powers, arouse thy vital fire, 
Ye Spirits of the Storm my verse inspire ! 
Hoarse as the whirlwinds that enrage the Main 
In torrent pour along the swelling Strain. 

Now, thro' the parting wave impetuous bore, 
The scudding Vessel stemmed th' Athenian Shore ; 
The Pilots, as the waves behind her swell, 
Still with the wheeling Stern their force repel ; 
For this assault should either Quarter feel 
Again to flank the Tempest she might reel : 
The Steersmen every bidden turn apply, 
To right, and left, the spokes alternate fly— 



116 SCUDDING. 

Thus, when some conquered Host retreats in fear, 

The bravest leaders guard the broken rear ; 

Indignant they retire,, and long oppose 

Superior Armies that around them close; 

Still shield the flanks, the routed squadrons join, 

And guide the flight in one continued line: 

Thus they direct the flying Bark before 

Th' impelling floods, that lash her to the Shore : 

High o'er the Poop Cb' audacious Seas aspire, 

Uprolled in hills of fluctuating fire; 

With lab'ring throes she rolls on either side, 

And dips her gunnels in the yawning tide ; 

Her joints unhinged in palsied languors play, 

As ice-flakes part beneath the noon- tide ray : 

The Gale howls doleful thro' the blocks and shrouds, 

And big Rain pours a deluge from the clouds; 

From wintery magazines that sweep the sky, 

Descending globes of Hail impetuous fly ; 

High on the Masts, with pale and livid rays 

Amid the gloom portentous Meteors blaze; 

Th' ethereal dome in mournful pomp array 'd 

Now buried lies beneath impervious shade, 



LIGHTNING. 117 

Now, flashing round intolerable light, 
Redoubles all the horror of the night — 
Such terror Sinai's trembling hill o'erspread, 
When Heaven's loud trumpet sounded o'er its head : 
It seemed, the wrathful Angel of the wind 
Had all the horrors of the skies combin'd, 
And here, to one ill-fated Ship opposed, 
At once the dreadful magazine disclosed : 
And lo ! tremendous o'er the deep he springs, 
Th' inflaming sulphur flashing from his wings; 
Hark ! his strong voice the dismal silence breaks, 
Mad Chaos from the chains of Death awakes : 
Loud, and more loud, the rolling Peals enlarge, 
And blue on deck the fiery tides discharge ; 
There all aghast the shivering wretches stood, 
While chill suspense and fear congealed their blood ; 
Wide bursts in dazzling sheets the living Flame 
And dread concussion rends th' ethereal frame; 
Sick Earth convulsive groans from shore to shore, 
And Nature shuddering feels the horrid roar. 

Still the sad prospect rises on my sight, 
Revealed in all its mournful shade and light; 






118 LEE SHORE — DAY BREAK. 

E'en now my ear with quick vibration feels 
Th' explosion burst in strong rebounding peals; 
Swift through my pulses glides the kindling fire, 
As lightning glances on th' electric wire: 
Yet ah ! the languid colours vainly strive 
To bid the Scene in native hues revive. 

But lo! at last, from tenfold darkness born, 
Forth issues o'er the wave the weeping Morn : 
Hail, sacred Vision ! who, on orient wings, 
The cheering dawn of light propitious brings; 
All Nature smiling hailed the vivid ray 
That gave her beauties to returning Day, 
All but our Ship ! which groaning on the tide 
No kind relief, no gleam of Hope descried; 
For now in front her trembling inmates see 
The hills of Greece emerging on the lee — 
So the lost lover views that fatal Morn 
On which, for ever from his bosom torn, 
The maid adored resigns her blooming charms 
To bless with love some happier rival's arms; 
So to Eliza dawned that cruel day 
That tore jEneas from her sight away, 



119 

That saw him parting never to return. 

Herself in funeral flames decreed to burn. 

O yet in Clouds, thou genial Source of Light ! 

Conceal thy radiant glories from our sight, 

Go, with thy smile adorn the happy plain, 

And gild the scenes where health and pleasure reign : 

But let not here, in scorn, thy wanton beam 

Insult the dreadful grandeur of my theme. 

While shoreward now the bounding Vessel flies, 
Full in her van St. George's Cliffs arise; 
High o'er the rest a pointed Crag is seen 
That hung projecting o'er a mossy green, 
Huge breakers on the larboard Bow appear, 
And full a-head its eastern ledges bear : 
To steer more eastward Albert still commands, 
And shun, if possible, the fatal strands — 
Nearer and nearer now the danger grows, 
And all their skill relentless fates oppose ; 
For while more eastward they direct the prow, 
Enormous waves the quivering deck o'erflow ; 
While, as she wheels, unable to subdue 
Her sallies, still they dread her broaching-to : 



120 PERILOUS SITUATION. 

Alarming thought ! for now no more a-lee 

Her trembling side could bear the mountained Sea, 

And if pursuing Waves she scuds before, 

Headlong she runs upon the frightful shore ; 

A Shore, where Shelves and hidden Rocks abound, 

Where death in secret ambush lurks around: 

Not half so dreadful to Eneas' eyes 

The Straits of Sicily were seen to rise, 

When Palinurus from the helm descry'd 

The Rocks of Scylla on his eastern side, 

While in the west, with hideous yawn disclosed, 

His onward path Charybdis' gulph opposed; 

The double danger he alternate viewed, 

And cautiously his arduous track pursued : 

Thus, while to right and left destruction lies, 

Between th' extremes the daring Vessel flies : 

With terrible irruption bursting o'er 

The marble Cliffs, tremendous Surges roar; 

Hoarse thro' each winding creek the Tempest raves, 

And hollow rocks repeat the groan of waves: 

Should once the bottom strike this cruel Shore, 

The parting Ship that instant is no more ; 



SHIP PASSES THE CLIFFS. 121 

Nor she alone, but with her all the Crew 
Beyond relief are doomed to perish too : 
But haply she escapes the dreadful Strand, 
Tho' scarce her length in distance from the land ; 
Swift as the weapon quits the Scythian bow 
She cleaves the burning billows with her prow, 
And forward hurrying with impetuous haste, 
Borne on the Tempest's wings the Isle she past : 
With longing eyes, and agony of mind, 
The Sailors view this refuge left behind ; 
Happy to bribe with India's richest ore 
A safe accession to that barren Shore — 
When in the dark Peruvian Mine confln'd 
Lost to the cheerful commerce of mankind, 
The groaning Captive wastes his life away 
For ever exiled from the realms of day, 
Not half such pangs his bosom agonize 
When up to distant light he rolls his eyes ! 
Where the broad Sun, in his diurnal way 
Imparts to all beside his vivid ray, 
While, all forlorn, the Victim pines in vain 
For Scenes he never shall possess again. 



122 LAND OF ATHENS APPEARS. 

V. But now Athenian Mountains they descry 
And o'er the surge Colon n a frowns on high, 
Where marble Columns, long by time defaced, 
Moss covered on the lofty Cape are placed; 
There reared by fair Devotion to sustain 
In elder times Tritonia's sacred fane; 
The circling Beach in murderous form appears, 
Decisive Goal of all their hopes, and fears : 
The Seamen now in wild amazement see 
The scene of ruin rise beneath the Lee ; 
Swift from their minds elapsed all dangers past, 
As dumb with terror they behold the last : 
And now, while winged with ruin from on high 
Through the rent Cloud the ragged Lightnings fly, 
A Flash, quick glancing on the nerves of light, 
Struck the pale Helmsman with eternal night: 
RodmonD; who heard a piteous groan behind, 
Touched with compassion gazed upon the blind ; 
And, while around his sad Companions crowd, 
He guides th' unhappy Victim to the Shroud : 
il Hie thee aloft, my gallant friend!" he cries; 
t( Thy only succour on the Mast relies." 



SHIP LAID BROADSIDE TO THE SHORE. 123 

The Helm, bereft of half its vital force, 
Now scarce subdued the wild unbridled course; 
Quick to th' abandoned wheel Arion came 
The Ship's tempestuous sallies to reclaim: 
The Vessel, while the dread event draws nigh, 
Seems more impatient o'er the waves to fly; 
Fate spurs her on ! — Thus, issuing from afar, 
Advances to the Sun some blazing Star, 
And, as it feels Attraction's kindling force, 
Springs onward with accelerated course. 

The Moment fraught with Fate approaches fast ! 
While thronging Sailors climb each quivering mast; 
The Ship no longer now must stem the Land, 
And, hard a starboard! is the last command: 
While every suppliant voice to Heaven applies, 
The Prow swift wheeling to the westward flies; 
Twelve Sailors, on the Foremast who depend, 
High on the platform of the Top ascend, 
Fatal Retreat ! for, while the plunging Prow 
Immerges headlong in the wave below, 
Down prest by watery weight the Bowsprit bends, 
And from above the stem deep-crashing rends : 






124 LAST EFFORTS OF THE CREW. 

Beneath her Bow the floating ruins lie; 
The Foremast totters unsustained on high, 
And now the Ship, forelifted by the Sea, 
Hurls the tall Fabric backward o'er her lee ; 
While, in the general wreck, the faithful Stay 
Drags the Main topmast by the cap away : 
Flung from the mast, the Seamen strive in vain 
Through hostile floods their Vessel to regain ; 
Weak Hope alas ! they buffet long the wave, 
And grasp at Life though sinking in the Grave ; 
Till all exhausted, and bereft of strength, 
O'erpowered they yield to cruel Fate at length ; 
The burying Waters close around their head, 
They sink ! for ever numbered with the dead. 

Those who remain the weather Shrouds embrace, 
Nor longer mourn their lost Companions' case ; 
Transfixt with terror at th' approaching doom, 
Self pit}' in their breasts alone has room : 
Albert, and Rodmond and Palemon, near 
With young Arion, on the Mast appear; 
E'en they, amid th' unspeakable distress, 
In every look distracting thoughts confess, 



THEIH DESPAIR. 125 

In every vein the refluent blood congeals, 
And every bosom mortal terror feels ; 
Begirt with all the horror of the Main 
They viewed th' adjacent Shore, but viewed in vain: 
Such Torments in the drear abodes of Hell 
Where sad Despair laments with rueful yell, 
Such torments agonize the damned breast 
That sees remote the mansions of the Blest : 

It comes ! the dire Catastrophe draws near, 
Lashed furious on by Destiny severe : 
The Ship hangs hovering on the verge of death, 
Hell yawns, Rocks rise, and Breakers roar beneath ! 
O yet confirm my heart, ye Powers above ! 
This last tremendous shock of Fate to prove ; 
The tottering frame of Reason yet sustain, 
Nor let this total havoc whirl my Brain : 
Since I, all trembling in extreme distress, 
Must still the horrible result express. 

In vain, alas ! the sacred Shades of yore 
Would arm the mind with Philosophic lore ; 
In vain they'd teach us, at the latest breath 
To smile serene amid the pangs of Death : 



126 THE SHIP STRIKES, 

Immortal Zeno's self would trembling see 
Inexorable Fate beneath the lee; 
And Epictetus at the sight, in vain 
Attempt his stoic firmness to retain ; 
Had Socrates, for godlike virtue famed, 
And wisest of the sons of men proclaimed, 
Spectator of such various horrors been, 
E'en he had staggered at this dreadful Scene. 
In vain the cords and axes were prepar'd, 
For every Wave now smites the quivering yard; 
High o'er the Ship they throw a dreadful shade, 
Then on her burst in terrible cascade; 
Across the foundered Deck o'erwhelming roar, 
And foaming, swelling, bound upon the Shore, 
Swift up the mounting Billow now she flies, 
Her shattered top half-buried in the skies ; 
Borne o'er a latent reef the Hull impends, 
Then thundering on the marble Crags descends : 
Her ponderous bulk the dire concussion feels, 
And o'er upheaving Surges wounded reels — 
Again she plunges ! hark ! a second Shock 
Bilges the splitting Vessel on the Rock : 



AND PARTS ASUNDER. 



127 



Down on the vale of Death, with dismal cries, 
The fated Victims shuddering cast their eyes 
In wild Despair ; while yet another stroke, 
With strong convulsion rends the solid oak : 
Ah Heaven ! — behold her crashing ribs divide ! 
She loosens, parts, and spreads in ruin o'er the Tide. 

Oh were it mine with sacred Maro's art 
To wake to s\anpathy the feeling heart, 
Like him the smooth, and mournful verse, to dress 
In all the pomp of exquisite distress ; 
Then, too severely taught by^ cruel Fate, 
To share in all the perils I relate, 
Then might I, with unrivalled Strains deplore 
Th' impervious horrors of a Leeward Shore. 

As o'er the surf the bending Mainmast hung, 
Still on the rigging thirty Seamen clung: 
Some on a broken Crag were struggling cast, 
And there by oozy tangles grappled fast ; 
Awhile they bore th' o'erwhelming Billows' rage, 
Unequal combat with their Fate to wage; 
Till all benumbed, and feeble, they forego 
Their slippery hold, and sink to Shades below : 




128 FATE OT THE CREW. 

Some, from the Main Yard- Arm impetuous thrown 
On marble ridges, die without a groan : 
Three with Palemon on their skill depend, 
And from the wreck on Oars and Rafts descend; 
Now on the Mountain-Wave on high they ride, 
Then downward plunge beneath th' involving Tide ; 
Till one, who seems in agony to strive, 
The whirling Breakers heave on shore alive : 
The rest a speedier end of anguish knew, 
And prest the stony beach — a lifeless Crew ! 

Next, O unhappy Chief! th' eternal doom 
Of Heaven decreed thee to the briny tomb : 
What Scenes of misery torment thy view ! 
What painful struggles of thy dying Crew! 
Thy perished hopes all buried in the flood 
O'erspread with corses, red with human blood ! 
So pierced with anguish hoary Priam gazed, 
When Troy's imperial domes in ruin blazed ; 
While he, severest sorrow doomed to feel, 
Expired beneath the Victor's murdering steel — 
Thus with his helpless Partners to the last, 
Sad refuge! Albert grasps the floating mast. 



DEATHS OF RODMOND, AND ALBERT. 129 

His Soul could yet sustain this mortal blow. 
But droops, alas ! beneath superior woe ; 
For now strong Nature's sympathetic chain 
Tugs at his yearning heart with powerful strain : 
His faithful Wife, for ever doomed to mourn 
For him, alas ! who never shall return, 
To black Adversity's approach exposed, 
With want, and hardships unforeseen enclosed; 
His lovely Daughter, left without a friend 
Her innocence to succour and defend, 
By youth and indigence set forth a prey 
To lawless guilt, that flatters to betray— 
While these Reflections rack his feeling mind^ 
Rodmond, who hung beside, his grasp resign'd; 
And, as the tumbling waters o'er him roll'd, 
His outstretched arms the Master's legs infold: 
Sad Albert feels their dissolution near, 
And strives in vain his fettered limbs to clear 
For Death bids every clinching joint adhere: 
All faint, to Heaven he throws his dying eyes, 
And, Oh protect my Wife and Child! he cries — 
The gushing streams roll back th' unfinished sounds 
He gasps ! and sinks amid the vast profound* 



130 arion's danger, 

Five only left of all the shipwrecked throng 
Yet ride the Mast which shoreward drives along; 
With these Arion still his hold secures, 
And all assaults of hostile waves endures : 
O'er the dire prospect as for life he strives, 
He looks if poor Palemon yet survives — 
" Ah wherefore, trusting to unequal art, 
" Didst thou, incautious! from the Wreck depart? 
" Alas ! these Rocks all human skill defy, 
il Who strikes them once, beyond relief must die: 
" And now sore wounded, thou perhaps art tost 
" On these, or in some oozy Cavern lost:" 
Thus thought Arion; anxious gazing round 
In vain, his eyes no more Palemon found — 
The Demons of destruction hover nigh, 
And thick their mortal Shafts commissioned fly : 
When now a breaking Surge, with forceful sway, 
Two, next Arion, furious tears away; 
Hurled on the Crags, behold they gasp, they bleed ! 
And groaning, cling upon th' elusive Weed; 
Another Billow bursts in boundless roar ! 
Arion sinks! and Memory views no more. 



AND PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. 13 L 

Ha ! total Night and Horror here preside. 
My stunned ear tingles to the whizzing Tide ; 
It is their funeral knell ! and gliding near 
Methinks the Phantoms of the dead appear : 
But lo ! emerging from the watery grave 
Again they float incumbent on the wave, 
Again the dismal Prospect opens round 
The wreck, the shore, the dying and the drown'd ! 
And see ! enfeebled by repeated shocks, 
Those two, who scramble on th' adjacent Rocks, 
Their faithless hold no longer can retain, 
They sink o'erwhelmed! and never rise again. 

Two with Arion yet the Mast upbore, 
That now above the ridges reached the Shore; 
Still trembling to descend, they downward gaze 
With Horror pale, and torpid with amaze : 
The floods recoil ! the ground appears below ! 
And Life's faint embers now rekindling glow ; 
Awhile they wait th' exhausted waves' retreat, 
Then climb slow up the beach with hands and feet — 
O Heaven ! delivered by whose sovereign hand 
Still on destruction's brink they shuddering stand, 



132 HtJMANITY OF THE GRECIANS, 

Receive the languid Incense they bestow 
That damp with Death appears not yet to glow - t 
To thee each Soul the warm oblation pays 
With trembling ardor of unequal praise ; 
In every heart dismay with wonder strives, 
And Hope the sickened spark of life revives, 
Her magic powers their exiled health restore 
Till horror and despair are felt no more. 

Roused by the blustering Tempest of the night, 
A Troop of Grecians mount Colonna's height; 
When, gazing down with horror on the Flood, 
Full to their view the Scene of Ruin stood — 
The Surf with mangled bodies strewed around, 
And those yet breathing on the sea-washed ground : 
Though lost to Science and the nobler Arts, 
Yet Nature's lore informed their feeling hearts ; 
Strait down the Vale with hastening steps they hied, 
Th' unhappy sufferers to assist, and guide. 

Meanwhile those three escaped beneath, explore 
The first advent' rousYouth who reached the shore : 
Panting, with eyes averted from the day, 
Prone, helpless, on the tangly Beach he lay— 



PALEMON DISCOVERED BY ARION. 133 

It is Palemon ! oh, what tumults roll 
With Hope and Terror in Arion's soul; 
" If yet unhurt he lives again to view 
" His Friend, and this sole remnant of our Crew, 
" With us to travel through this foreign Zone, 
" And share the future good or ill unknown f 
Arion thus; but ah, sad doom of Fate! 
That bleeding Memory sorrows to relate; 
While yet afloat, on some resisting Rock 
His ribs were dashed, and fractured with the shock : 
Heart-piercing sight! those cheeks so late array'd 
In beauty's bloom, are pale with mortal shade ; 
Distilling blood his lovely breast o'erspread, 
And clogged the golden tresses of his head : 
Nor yet the lungs by this pernicious stroke 
Were wounded, or the vocal organs broke. 
Down from his neck, with blazing gems arrayed, 
Thy image, lovely Anna! hung pourtrayed; 
Th' unconscious figure, smiling all serene, 
Suspended in a golden chain was seen: 
Hadst thou, soft Maiden ! in this hour of woe 
Beheld him writhing from the deadly blow, 



134 PALEMON S DYING ADDRESS 

What force' of art, what language could express 
Thine agony, thine exquisite distress? 
But thou, alas ! art doomed to weep in vain 
For him thine eyes shall never see again. 
With dumb amazement pale, Arion gazed, 
And cautiously the wounded Youth upraised; 
Palemon then, with equal pangs opprest, 
In faltering accents thus his Friend addrest : 

" O rescued from Destruction late so nigh, 
<c Beneath whose fatal influence doomed I lie; 
" Are we then, exiled to this last retreat 
" Of life, unhappy ! thus decreed to meet ? 
<c Ah ! how unlike what y ester-morn enjoyed, 
' ' Enchanting Hopes ! for ever now destroyed ; 
u For wounded, far beyond all healing power, 
" Palemon dies, and this his final hour: 
« By those fell Breakers, where in vain I strove, 
" At once cut off from fortune, life, and love ! 
" Far other scenes must soon present my sight, 
" That lie deep-buried yet in tenfold Night — 
" Ah! wretched Father of a wretched Son, 
" Whom thy paternal prudence has undone; 



TO ARION, 



135 



C( How will remembrance of this blinded care 

" Bend down thy head with anguish, and despair: 

" Such dire effects from Avarice arise ; 

" That deaf to Nature's voice, and vainly wise, 

te With force severe endeavours to controul 

" The noblest Passions that inspire the Soul : 

" But O Thou sacred Power! whose law connects 

" Th' eternal chain of causes and effects, 

" Let not thy chastening Ministers of rage 

" Afflict with sharp Remorse his feeble Age: 

" And you, Arion ! who with these the last 

(i Of all our Crew survive the Shipwreck past — 

<e Ah ! cease to mourn, those friendly tears restrain, 

<( Nor give my dying moments keener pain ! 

" Since Heaven may soon thy wandering steps restore, 

(( When parted hence, to England's distant Shore ; 

" Shouldst thou, th' unwilling messenger of Fate, 

" To him the Tragic Story first relate ; 

" Oh ! friendship's generous ardor then suppress, 

" Nor hint the fatal cause of my distress; 

" Nor let each horrid incident sustain 

" The lengthened Tale to aggravate his pain : 



136 palemon's last request, 

" Ah ! then remember well my last request 
" For her who reigns for ever in my breast; 
" Yet let him prove a Father and a Friend, 
" The helpless Maid to succour and defend — 
<c Say, I this Suit implored with parting breath, 
" So Heaven befriend him at his hour of Death! 
(( But, oh ! to lovely Anna shouldst thou tell 
" What dire untimely end thy Friend befel ; 
" Draw o'er the dismal scene soft Pity's veil, 
" And lightly touch the lamentable Tale : 
<c Say that my Love, inviolably true, 
" No change, no diminution ever knew; 
" Lo ! her bright image pendent on my neck 
c< Is all Palemon rescued from the wreck; 
" Take it ! and say, when panting in the wave- 
" I struggled life and this alone to save. 

" My Soul, that fluttering hastens to be free, 
" Would yet a train of thoughts impart to thee, 
" But strives in vain ; the chilling ice of Death 
<{ Congealsmyblood, andchoaks the stream of breath; 
" Resigned, she quits her comfortless abode 
u To course that long, unknown, eternal road— 



AND DEATH. 137 

te O sacred Source of ever-living Light ! 

e ' Conduct the weary wanderer in her flight ; 

" Direct her onward to that peaceful Shore, 

C{ Where Peril, Pain, and Death prevail no more. 

" When thou some Tale of hapless love shalt hear, 
" That steals from Pity's eye the melting tear ; 
" Of two chaste Hearts, by mutual passion joined, 
" To Absence, Sorrow, and Despair consigned ; 
" Oh ! then, to swell the tides of social woe 
" That heal th' afflicted bosom they o'erflow, 
" While Memory dictates, this sad Shipwreck tell,, 
" And what distress thy wretched Friend befel: 
" Then, while in streams of soft Compassion drown'd, 
e( The Swains lament, and Maidens weep around; 
" While lisping Children touched with infant fear 
(e With wonder gaze, and drop th' unconscious tear; 
" Oh ! then this Moral bid their Souls retain, 
" All thoughts of happiness on earth are 
vain !" 
The last faint accents trembled on his tongue 
That now inactive to the palate clung; 
His bosom heaves a mortal groan — he dies ! 
And Shades eternal sink upon his eyes. 



138 arion's lamentation. 

As thus defaced in death Pa lemon lay, 
Arion gazed upon the lifeless clay ; 
Transfixed he stood ; with awful terror filled, 
While down his cheek the silent drops distilled : 

" O ill-starred Votary of unspotted Truth ! 
" Untimely perished in the bloom of youth ; 
" Should e'er thy Friend arrive on Albion's land, 
ci He will obey, though painful, thy command ; 
" His tongue the dreadful Story shall display, 
u And all the horrors of this dismal day : 
" Disastrous day ! what ruin hast thou bred, 
".What anguish to the living and the dead ! 
<{ How hast thou left the Widow all forlorn ; 
" And ever doomed the orphan Child to mourn, 
" Through Life's sad journey hopeless to complain: 
" Can sacred Justice these events ordain? 
€C But, O my Soul! avoid that wondrous maze 
" Where Reason, lost in endless error, strays; 
" As through this thorny Vale of life we run, 
<( Great Cause of all Effects, Thy will be done!' 

Now had the Grecians on the beach arrived, 
To aid the helpless few who yet survived: 



THREE SURVIVORS, 



139- 



While passing, they behold the Waves o'erspread 
With shattered rafts and corses of the dead ; 
Three still alive, benumbed and faint they find, 
In mournful silence on a rock reclin'd : 
The generous Natives, moved with social pain, 
The feeble Strangers in their arms sustain ; 
With pitying sighs their hapless lot deplore, 
And lead them trembling from the fatal Shore. 




J.FittUr/ci 



Published Jan* ,8oj. fo W. MiUcr. Old Send Stnrt . 



140 



OCCASIONAL ELEGY, 



IN WHICH THE PRECEDING NARRATIVE IS CONCLUDED. 



The Scene of Death is closed ! the mournful strains 
Dissolve in dying languor on the ear; 

Yet Pity weeps, yet Sympathy complains, 
And dumb Suspense awaits o'erwhelmed with 
fear : 

But the sad Muses with prophetic eye 
At once the future and the past explore;. 

Their harps Oblivion's influence can defy, 
And waft the Spirit to th' eternal shore — 

Then, O Palemon ! if thy Shade can hear 
The voice of Friendship still lament thy doom, 

Yet to the sad Oblations bend thine ear 
That rise in vocal incense o'er thy Tomb : 



ELEGY. 141 

From young Arion first the news received 
With terror,, pale unhappy Anna read; 

With inconsolable distress she grieved, 

And from her cheek the rose of beauty fled ; 

In vain, alas ! the gentle Virgin wept, 
Corrosive Anguish nipt her vital bloom ; 

O'er her soft frame Diseases sternly crept, 
And gave the lovely victim to the Tomb : 

A longer date of woe, the widowed Wife 

Her lamentable lot afflicted bore; 
Yet both were rescued from the chains of life 

Before Arion reached his Native Shore : 

The Father unrelenting Phrenzy stung, 

Untaught in Virtue's school Distress to bear; 

Severe Remorse his tortured bosom wrung, 

He languished, groaned and perished in Despair. 

Ye lost Companions of distress, adieu ! 

Your Toils, and Pains, and Dangers are no more ; 
The Tempest now shall howl unheard by you, 

While Ocean smites in vain the trembling Shore; 



14'2 ELEGY. 

On you the Blast, surcharged with rain and snow, 
In Winter's dismal nights no more shall beat; 

Unfelt by you the vertic Sun may glow, 

And scorch the panting Earth with baneful heat : 

No more the joyful Maid, with sprightly strain, 
Shall wake the dance to give you welcome home ; 

Nor hopeless Love impart undying pain, 

When far from Scenes of social joy you roam; 

No more on yon wide watery Waste you stray, 
While Hunger and Disease your life consume, 

While parching Thirst, that burns without allay, 
Forbids the blasted rose of Health to bloom; 

No more you feel Contagion's mortal breath 
That taints the Realms with misery severe, 

No more behold pale Famine, scattering death, 
With cruel ravage desolate the year: 

The thundering Drum, theTrumpet's swelling strain 
Unheard, shall form the long embattled Line : 

Unheard, the deep foundations of the Main 

Shall tremble, when the hostile Squadrons join : 



ELEGY. 143 

Since Grief, Fatigue, and Hazards still molest 
The wandering Vassals of the faithless Deep ; 

Oh ! happier now escaped to endless rest, 

Than we who still survive to wake, and weep: 

What though no funeral pomp, no borrowed tear, 
Your hour of Death to gazing crowds shall tell ; 

Nor weeping Friends attend your sable bier, 
Who sadly listen to the passing bell ; 

The tutored Sigh, the vain parade of woe, 
No real anguish to the Soul impart; 

And oft, alas ! the Tear that Friends bestow, 
Belies the latent feelings of the Heart: 

What tho' no sculptured Pile your name displays. 
Like those who perish in their Country's cause ; 

What though no Epic Muse in living lays 
Records your dreadful Daring with applause; 

Full oft the flattering Marble bids Renown 

With blazoned trophies deck the spotted name; 

And oft, too oft, the venal Muses crown 
The Slaves of Vice with never-dying fame— 



144 ELEGY. 

Yet shall Remembrance from Oblivion's veil 
Relieve your Scene, and sigh with grief sincere j 

And soft Compassion at your tragic Tale 
In silent tribute pay her kindred tear. 



FINIS. 



T. Bensley, Printer, Bolt Court, Fleet Street. 



NOTES and ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Latin Ode referred to in the Life of Falconer* 
was composed by Dr. Kirkpatrick, and addressed by him 
to Mr. Hirst, on his sailing in the Aurora frigate for India 
Sept. 1769. (See Letters ly John Hughes, Esq. and several 
other eminent Persons deceased, published ly John Dun- 
comle, M. A. vol. iii. p. 221.) 

Ad amicum Navigaturum, Gulielmum Hirst, A.M.R. 
S. S. Syndicis ad Indos Orientales delegatis 
a sacris, in Aurora nave, Musis et virtuti 

1NIMICA. 

Astra visurus prope quae sub Austri 
Axe collucent, citiore cursu 
Deprimes nostra, ut freta vasta Eoos 
Findis ad Indos. 

Ripa sit quamvis ibi faeta baccis, 
Terra clam splendens adamante crudo j 
Rivuli fundant, coquat an fodina 

Largiter aurum; 

Dite nee gratum pariter reportes 
Quale deducis, nisi sospes, «jilla baud. 
Merce mutandum, sociis red .icas 

Pectus honestum. 

L 



146 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

Cuncta quae tellus, mare, Sol, et imbres 
Prodigunt sec'lis, mare, Sol, et imbres 
Ipsa vanescent, subito soluta 

Funere mundi. 

Quas tibi virtus tua supplet alis, 
Pauca quae nescis penetrabis astra, 
Luce coelorum redimitus, et su~ 

perstes Olympo. 

Quod tamen purum cor haberet auri, 
Et manus purae capiant, habeto; 
Ne tibi largo deeris, vel alter 

Dignus egeret. 

Mente sublimi leviora spernens, 
Solis occursus varios, viasque 
Siderum calles, loca dulce pingens 
Dissita nostris. 

Pensito morbos nimium nee aegro 
Pharmacum mando, asenis eruditi 
iEmulus Coi, atque homicida cautus 
Jure vocari. 

Fonte quin sacro meditor salutem, 
Pango vel carmen vacuum veneni, 
Quemque donabas relego dieque et 

Nocte b Platonem. 



a Hippocrates. 
b Anglice optime redditum, interprete Fl. Sydenham. 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 147 

Eurus extendat tibi vela laeto ! 
Sceviant pond minus! et sequaces 
Urgeant fluctus iter! ac recordans 

Pocula c Mjtr je, 

Dum graves curae fugiant parumper, 
Mente cum multos memori recenses, 
Hirste, ne vatis penitus sileto 

Nomen amici 1 

Sept. 1769. J. KlKKPATRICK, M. D. 



PAGE ], line 3. While Albion bids, &c. 

In the third edition, the beauty of the third, and fourth 
line, has been greatly injured: 

" While Ocean hears vindictive thunders roll 
Along his trembling wave from pole to pole." 

The Wave of Ocean cannot be said to tremble: all 
editions subsequent to the third, render this alteration still 
more improper by reading trembling Waves. 

PAGE ibid. 1.12. Than ever trembled from the vocal string. 

In the third edition the following unequal lines were 
introduced, after the above passage : 

" No pomp of battle swells th' exalted strain, 
Nor gleaming arms ring dreadful on the plain; 

c Tabernam intellige, in vico dicto Fleet-street. 



148 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

But o'er the Scene while pale remembrance weeps 
Fate with fell triumph rides upon the deeps." 

PAGE 1. 1. 13. A Scene from dumb Oblivion to restore. 

In this passage, as in some others, the third edition 
claims a preference. In the second, the lines ran thus: 

" To paint a Scene yet strange to epic lore, 
Whose desart soil no laurel ever bore.' v 

PAGE 2. 1.3. Immortal train, &c. 

This passage is also improved in the third edition ; it 
previously had been thus expressed : 

" Ye all recording Nine! whose sacred strains 
With sweet inchantment charm Elysian plains ; 
Whose golden Trumpets, fraught with endless fame, 
Arts, arms, and heroes to all space proclaim." 

The two succeeding lines are very beautiful, though omit- 
ted in the third edition: I have ventured to restore them, 
with many others of similar merit — 

" Or in lamenting Elegies express 
The varied pang of exquisite Distress." 

PAGE ibid. 1.13. Or listen to the enchanting voice of Love. 

The whole of the beautiful passage from " If e'er with 
trembling Hope," to " Whose vaults remurmur to the roar- 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 149 

ing Wave" was added in the third edition : but an error, 
either of the press, or of the author, is evident in the above 
line, as it is generally printed. . 

" Or listen, while the enchanting voice of Love." 

Mr. Bowles suggested the reading which I have followed : 
Mr. Pocock, to whose Taste I am greatly indebted, rather 
prefers " Or listened — " 

PAGE 2. line 15. 

The solemn cadence, the impressive tones, and the 
judicious contrast of imagery, " If e'er with trembling 
Hope" &c. and " Oh! by the hollow Blast that moans 
around" are peculiarly calculated to awake attention^, and 
are conceived in the genuine spirit of poetic taste. There 
are indeed a few verbal inaccuracies in this Introduction ; 
such as — " The Trumpet's breath bids ruin smile" which 
perhaps would have been better expressed, " The Trumpet's 
breath bids Havoc on:" but the whole is finely worked 
up; and, like a Grand Overture, prepares the mind of the 
reader for what follows. W. L: B. 

This remark of my Friend is so just, that in conse- 
quence of it, I was induced to print the Introduction by 
itself, in order to render its effect more striking. It hi- 
therto has been printed with the Narrative, or only sepa- 
rated by a line; and consequently has lost much of its 
exquisite beauty. 



150 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 2. 1. 16\ That sweeps the wild Harp with a plain- 
tive sound. 

TheiEolian Harp; seeThomson (Castle of Indolence ,40, 
41). This thought, so beautifully expressed, seems not only- 
suggested by the jEotiafi Harp, but by the hollow sound 
of a Southerly Wind; the dread of Seamen in many cli- 
mates, especially in the British Channel, as it is always at- 
tended with rain, and great obscurity, which increases 
with the storm, and renders the Coast of Ireland, England, 
and South Wales, a dangerous lee-shore. On Land, the 
peasants call it an high Wind) i. e. one that sounds hollow, 
and high. Seamen know its knell; and a shift of wind 
may be expected to follow from the west, or N.W. which 
blows low, being a counter current of air, furious in the 
extreme; and this causes the hollow sound before the gale 
is felt. N.P. 

The learned reader may wish to be reminded of a cu- 
rious passage in Hoffman s Lexicon Universale, published 
upwards of 150 years ago, relative to the iEolian Harp; 
it is cited in the Gentleman's Magazine, (vol. xxiv. p. 174) 
and the following lines are added: 

" Salve, quae fingis proprio modulamine carmen, 
Salve, Memnoniam vox imitata lyram! 

Duke, O! divinumque sonas sine pollicis ictu, 
Dives naturae simplicis, artis inops! 

Talia, quae incultae dant mellea labra puellae, 
Talia sunt faciles, quae modulantur aves!" 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 151 

PAGE 3. 1. 3 and 4. Ah! will they leave, &c. 

An idea somewhat similar occurs in Ariosto (C. 46. 
stanza 17) on the subject of the piscatorial poesy of San~ 
nazaro: 

" Jacopo Sannazar che alle Camene 
Lasciar fa i monti ed abitar le arene." 

F. D. 

PAGE ibid. 1.14. A Ship Boy on the high and giddy Mast! 

The passage in Shakespear's Henry the Fourth, act the 
third, whence this line is taken, is always deeply impressed 
Seaman's mind : 

" Wilt thou, upon the high and giddy Mast, 
Seal up the Ship -boy's eyes, and rock his brains, 
In cradle of the rude imperious surge; 
And in the visitation of the Winds, 
Who take the ruffian billows by the top 
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them 
With deaf ning clamours in the slip'ry shrouds, 
That with the Hurly, Death itself awakes? 
Canst thou, O partial Sleep, give thy repose 
To the wet Sea-Boy in an hour so rude -, 
And, in the calmest and the stillest Night, 
W^ith all appliances and means to boot, 
Deny it to a King? then happy low! lye downj 
Uneasie lyes the head, that wears a Crown." 



152 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 4. 1.12. Till oer her Crew distress and death prevail. 

In the eleven lines that succeed, I have followed the 
second edition : in the third, the Author very inadver- 
tently introduced the following — 

" Where'er he wandered, thus vindictive Fate 
Pursued his weary steps with lasting hate: 
Roused by her mandate, Storms of black array 
Wintered the morn of life's advancing day; 
Relaxed the sinews of the living Lyre, 
And quenched the kindling spark of vital fire : 
Thus while forgotten, or unknown, he wooes, 
What hope to win the coy reluctant Muse ?" 

These lines strongly savour of Fatalism, and are unworthy 
of a British Mariner. The minds of our Mariners, I speak 
from experience, with very few exceptions, always display 
an high sense of Christianity, and a belief in an over- 
ruling Providence : a truth which I have endeavoured to 
support, throughout the whole of a publication, which the 
public has honoured with attention, entitled Sermons on 
the Character, and professional Duties of Seamen. 
When Falconer published the third edition, his temper was 
soured by disappointment; and, in this instance, he for- 
got the principles of a Christian Mariner. 

PAGE 5. 1. 1. And lol the Power that wakes the event- 
ful Song ! 

I had preferred the following text, as given in the first 
and second editions; but in deference to a Friend, whose 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 153 

Poetic Taste has been long approved, 1 followed the third 
edition : although the repetition of Light, as a rhime, in 
the fourth, and thirteenth line, has certainly a bad effect. 
As Mr. Boivles also observes, " the epithet propitious is 
too tame, it should have been instant light" The pas- 
sage stood thus originally — 

" Thee Memory! too, the tragic Tale implores 
Arise! approach! unlock thy treasured stores!" — 

" She comes confest, auspicious to the sight, 
O'er all my Soul diffusing sacred light, 
Serenely mild her look; around her head 
Refulgent wreaths of azure glory spread. 
Her radiant wings like Iris' flaming bow, 
With various hues in rich profusion glow; 
With these, along th' immensity of space, 
She scours the rapid, intellectual race;" &c. 

PAGE 5. 1.18. And hoaryTimeJrom herjreshyouthreceives. 

The classic ideas of our unfortunate Mariner in many 
instances resemble those of the Italian Poets: thus Tasso, 
when speaking of Memory, exclaims (C. 1 . st. 36) 

" Mente degli anni e dell' oblio nemica, 
Delle cose custode, e dispensiera." F. D. 

PAGE 6. ].g. Full on my Soul the dreadful scene display. 

This, and the following line, were unaccountably omit- 
ted in the third edition. 



154 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 10. 1. 1 . A Ship from Egypt, o'er the deep impel td 
By guiding winds, her course for Venice held. 

Falconer begins his Narrative with all the simplicity 
of the great masters, and seems to have had in view the 
opening of the iEneid : 

Trojae qui primus ab oris 

Italiam, fato profugus, Lavinaque venit 
Littora : 

I have followed in the first four lines, the third edition 5 
in the second it was thus expressed : 

" A Ship from Egypt, o'er the watery plain 
Designed her Course to Adria's rich domain; 
From fair Britannia's Isle derived her name, 
And thence her Crew, the Slaves of Fortune, came." 

I was not fond of styling Seamen " the Slaves of Fortune !" 

PAGE ibid. 1. 10. Thrice had the Sun, &c. 

How admirably, yet naturally, is the whole of what 
follows in this, and the next page contrived, towards en- 
gaging the attention of the reader, and leading it gra- 
dually on to the great event of the poem. I have in part 
preferred the text of the second edition. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 14, 15 from Shore to Shore, 

Unwearying wafted her commercial store. 

The British Merchantmen at the time this Poem was 
written, and for a considerable time afterwards, remained 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 155 

trading from Port to Port in the Levant, and Mediterra- 
nean, until ordered for England ; when they generally 
loaded with silks at Leghorn. 

The length of time to which these Voyages were ex- 
tended, probably arose from the respect paid to the British 
flag, and the Mediterranean pass. Any British ship, though 
worn and crazy, sold for a considerable sum to the Ge- 
noese, or other neighbouring states, if the pass could also 
accompany the ship: this Traffic at last caused some com- 
plaints, and is now impracticable. The pass must be re- 
turned to the Lords of the Admiralty. 

Mr. Eton, in his Survey of the Turkish Empire, treats 
at large On the state of the British Trade to the Levant 
(page 448, 3d edit.) and assigns four causes for its gra- 
dual decline. 1. The rivalship of other European nations. 

2. The diminution of the consumption of our Manufac- 
tures in Turkey, by the impoverished state of the country. 

3. Some branches of Trade being got into other channels. 

4. The monopoly of the Levant Company in London. 

PAGE 12. 1. 2. Candia: 

The Haven enter, &c. 

The Harbour of Candia, though naturally a fine ba- 
son, in which Ships were securely sheltered from every 
wind, is described by Tournefort, in \J 18, as capable of 
receiving nothing but boats. Ships of burden keep under 
the isle of Dia, or Standia, to the N. E. of Candia; and 
consequently that was the anchorage to which Falconer 
alludes. All merchant vessels freighted by the Turks at 



156 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

Candia are obliged to sail almost empty to the ports of 
Dia, whither their cargoes are conveyed in boats. The 
French merchants have in consequence taken up their re- 
sidence at Canea; but even there the harbour will only 
receive ships of 200 tons burden, and its mouth is exposed 
to all the violence of the north winds: its bottom however 
is good, except to the west of the town, where there are 
several rocks under water extremely dangerous. The har- 
bour of Canea might be enlarged so as to admit the largest 
frigates. The chief revenue of Canea consists in olive-oil. 
According to Tournefort, the island of Candia in the year 
l699> yielded 300,000 measures of oil, which the French 
merchants purchased, on account of the failure of oils in 
Provence. 

PAGE 12. 1. 4. Mark the fell track of desolating War. 

The revolutions of this celebrated Island may thus be 
briefly given. It received the name of Candia from the 
Saracens about the year 808, when they subdued it, after 
being repulsed in their attempts on the islands of Sar- 
dinia and Corsica by the maritime Counts whom Charle- 
magne appointed, under the title of Comites ad custodien- 
dam Oram Maritimam deputati. This island was after- 
wards annexed to the Greek empire either under Romanus 
the first in 96 1, or as others think under Nicephorus Pho- 
cas in 964. When the Emperor Alexis was murdered, 
and Baldwin was crowned, Candia passed, in 1204, 
from Boniface Marquis of Montferrat to the Venetians, 
who had assisted in that great revolution 5 and from them 



TO THE F1BST CANTO. 157 

it came to the Turks after the memorable war which 
lasted nearly thirty years: the siege commenced in 1646*, 
and on the 4th of October 1670 the Grand Vizier entered 
Candiaj which answers to what Falconer afterwards says 
(page 25, 1. 12) 

" Where late thrice fifty thousand Warriors hied: 
Full twice twelve summers were yon towers assailed." 

The Venetians however retained three Fortresses a consi- 
derable time afterwards — Sudce, Gralusa, and Spina-Lon- 
gcea. English merchant vessels resorted to Candia about 
the year 1522; since (according to Rymer's Fcedera, vol. 13. 
page 766) we find that Henry VIII then appointed Censio 
de Balhazari (resident on the island) for life, Governor, 
Master, Protector, or Consul of the English Nation there. 

PAGE 12. 1. 13. Ah I luho the flight of ages can revoke? 

This idea is more forcibly expressed by Falconer than even 
by Metastasio : 

" L'eta che viene e fugge 
E non ritorna piu." F. D. 

PAGE 13. 1. 1, 2. These eyes have seen the dull reluctant soil 
A seventh year mock the weary lalourefs toil. 

So correct is Falconer in this description of the state of 
Candia, that it almost is word for word, whatM. Olivier 
of the National Institute has lately published : " Far from 
the rod of the Turks, and under the shield of their privi- 



158 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

leges, the Greeks of the Islands of the Archipelago, 
assured of being able to enjoy, to a certain degree, the 
fruit of their labours, in general cultivate their fields, or 
apply themselves to some industry with sufficient ardour 
and intelligence. But in Crete, exposed incessantly to 
see their crops taken away from them by the Aga ; to be 
stripped of their property by the Pacha; to be insulted, 
cudgelled, and robbed by every Janizary; the cultivators 
are never inclined to snatch from the earth, by an increase 
of labour, a produce which they w r ould see pass into the 
hands of those whom they have so much reason to hate. 

f( The fields which they cultivate, planted by their an- 
cestors when a civilized, industrious, and trading people 
(the Venetians) governed the Island, and favoured Agri- 
culture; are running to waste from day to day : the Olive 
Tree perishes; the Vine disappears; the soil is washed 
away by the rains; yet these unfortunate Greeks, disheart- 
ened as they are, think not of repairing the damages which 
time is incessantly occasioning them. There is nothing 
but the pressing want of living and of paying the Taxes, 
that can induce them to gather their Olives, sow their 
Lands, and give their attention to a few Bees." Travels 
in the Ottoman Empire (vol. ii. page 242.) 

PAGE 12. 

This intermixture of historical reflection is very judi- 
cious, as it relieves the uniformity of the subject: it was 
the result of Falconers natural feelings, but it exhibits 
the master hand of the Poet's Discernment. W. L. B. 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 159 

PAGE 13. 1. 14 The Sun 

Through the bright Virgin, and the Scales had run. 

Virgo is that Constellation of the Zodiac which the 
Sun enters about the 21st or 22d of August. Libra, the 
Balance, or Scales, was so named, because when the sun 
arrives at this Constellation, which is the time of the au- 
tumnal equinox, the days and nights are equal, as if 
weighed in a balance. Falconer with great judgment 
places the Sun in Scorpioj which it is conjectured was 
so named, since when the sun arrives at this Constella- 
tion, the heavy Gales, Storms, and various Maladies of 
autumn commence. The Poet accordingly mentions the 
sickening Vapours, and approaching Storms, which then 
prevail. 

PAGE 14. 1. 4. A Captive fettered to the oar of gain. 

Falconer here appears to have confused his characters : 
nor could I by any reference to preceding editions correct 
it. Albert is throughout the poem styled the Master of 
the ship, and, in the very next page, is represented as 

the Father of his Crew, 

Brave, liberal, just! 

Our Author therefore must here have alluded to what 
past in the sordid mind of Palemon's Father, whom he 
should have more correctly styled the Owner of the Ship. 
The third edition varies from the text of the second., which 



160 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

I have followed, yet does not in the least remove the dif- 
ficulty, but, on the contrary, rather augments it: 

" True to his trust, when sacred honour calls, 
No brooding storm the Masters soul appals : 
TK advancing season warns him to the main: 
A Captive, jettered to the oar of gain." 

PAGE 14. 1. 19. This crowns the prosperous Villain with 
applause. 

Falconer throughout too much displays a mind that 
has been soured by Adversity. If the prosperous Villain 
ever seems to be crowned with applause in this world, such 
applause is only deceitful and treacherous, like the Calm 
which precedes a storm. Armstrongs idea of the magic 
power of Gold was more correct: 

" Riches are oft by guilt or baseness earned, 
Or dealt by Chance to shield a lucky Knave, 
Or throw a cruel sunshine on a Fool." 

PAGE 15. 1. I, 2, 

In this instance, as in many others, Falconer, or some 
of his friends, weakened in the third edition, the beauty 
and correctness of the original, viz. 

" With slaughtered victims fills the weeping plain, 
And smooths the furrows of the treacherous Main." 

A Plain, however bloody, cannot be said to weep-, nor can 
Gold, however powerful, smooth the furrows of the Ocean. 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 161 

PAGE 15. 1. 8. Aboard, confest the Father of his Crew. 

The third edition, in which many beautiful lines are 
added to the character of Albert, reads Abroad! which 
spoils the whole force of the sentence. There is also a 
considerable portion of single-heartedness attached to the 
word Aboard, which, perhaps, few except Seamen will 
duly appreciate j it shewed that Albert was the same man 
on shore, and when walking his quarter-deck. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 11. Him Science taught! 

The Character, and general information of the Cap- 
tains, or Masters of our merchantmen, are not sufficiently 
known : what Falconer here says of Albert, is a true por- 
trait of the majority of them. I need not look far among 
this class of men to find the counterpart of Albert. 

PAGE 16. 1. 1 5, \6. Where er in amlush lurk the fatal Sands 
They claim the danger, proud of skilful lands. 

In the Coal Trade, the course of the numerous Vessels 
to London, lying chiefly through difficult and dangerous 
passages between the Sands, our Seamen who are em- 
ployed in that valuable Nursery, are trained from the 
early age of nine or ten years, to heave the Lead, and to 
take the Helm; and hence their great superiority in those 
respects over Seamen who have only been on foreign 
Voyages. It was in this School that the Circumnavigator 
Cook was formed. N. P. 

M 



162 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 16. 1. 19. O'er Bar, and Shelf. 

A Bau is known, in Hydrography, to be a mass of 
earth, or sand, that has been collected, by the surge of the 
sea, at the entrance of a River, or Haven, so as to render 
navigation difficult, and often dangerous. A Shelf, or 
Shelve, so called from the Saxon Schylf, is a name given 
to any dangerous shallows, sand banks, or rocks, lying im- 
mediately under the surface of the water. Falconer. 

PAGE 17. 1. 14. While tardy Justice slumbers oer her 
sword. 

Soon after Falconer wrote, this grievance was consi- 
derably redressed: in the year \77 5 > an d during the month 
of April, John Parry, a person of fortune, was executed at 
Shrewsbury, for having in 1773 plundered the wreck of 
the Ship called Charming Nancy on the coast of A nglesea. 
Another person of the name of Roberts was also found 
guilty at the same time for the like offence : they moved 
an arrest of judgment, and their case was referred to the 
Judges, who decided against them : both received sen- 
tence at the Salop Assizes. — Even a few months since, 
some inhabitants of Whitstalle in Kent were brought up 
to London on information that great quantities of Goods 
had been found in their possession, saved from Vessels re- 
cently wrecked : yet so common was this practice, and so 
universal was it become in the first Commercial Country 
in the world, that these very people were much surprised, 
when informed they had no right to the goods. N. P. 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. l6S 

To the above note, I wish to add some beautiful lines 
that were written by Mr. Bowles at Bamborough Castle. 
This very ancient castle, as he informs us (which had been 
the property of the family of the Forsters, whose heiress 
married Lord Crewe, Bishop of Durham) is now appro- 
priated by the will of that pious Prelate, among other be- 
nevolent purposes, to the noble one of ministering instant 
relief to such shipwrecked Mariners as may happen to be 
cast on that dangerous coast ; for whose preservation, and 
that of their Vessels, every possible assistance is contrived, 
and is at all times ready. The whole Estate is vested in the 
hands of Trustees, one of whom, Dr. Sharp, Archdeacon 
of Northumberland, with an active zeal, well suited to 
the nature of the humane institution, makes this Castle his 
chief residence, attending with unwearied diligence to the 
proper application of the charity. 

** Ye holy Tow'rs that shade the wave-worn Steep, 

Long may ye rear your aged brows sublime, 

Though, hurrying silent by, relentless Time 
Assail you, and the winter Whirlwind's sweep ! 

For far from blazing Grandeur's crowded halls, 
Here Charity hath fix'd her chosen seat, 
Oft listening tearful when the wild winds beat, 

With hollow bodings round your ancient walls} 
And Pity, at the dark and stormy hour 

Of Midnight, when the moon is hid on high, 
Keeps her lone watch upon the topmost tow'r, 

And turns her ear to each expiring cry ; 
Blest if her aid some fainting Wretch might save, 

And snatch him cold and speechless from the wave.' 



164 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 18. 1. 9. But what avails it to record a Name. 

How very beautiful and affecting is this natural Tran- 
sition. W. L, B. 



PAGE ibid. 1. 19— 21. 

Most exquisitely touched! Forlorn of heart — condemn- 
ed reluctant to the faithless Sea — long farewell — and lau- 
rel grove : Every epithet has its fall force. W. L. B. 

PAGE 19. 1. 21. These, chief among the Ship's conducting 
train — 

Conducting train is not an happy expression, but I 
have preferred this line as it stood in the second edition, 
to what was deemed improvement in the third : 

" Such were the Pilots ; tutored to divine 
Th' untravelled Course by geometric line." 

The Mates of a merchant Vessel cannot be styled her Pi- 
lots} and it is an error which Falconer, otherwise so cor- 
rect, too often makes : there was therefore no occasion to 
augment instances of it. 

PAGE 20. 1. 19, 20. 

Though tremblingly alive to Nature's laws, 
Yet ever firm to Honour's sacred cause. 

After these lines, the following succeed in the second 
edition : 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. l65 

" Thrice happy soil ! had Learning's vital ray 
Produced its pregnant blossoms to the day : 
But all th' abortive beauties of his mind 
A sordid Father's avarice confin'd, 
And nursed alone the mercenary art 
That kills the springing roses of the heart- 
But he indignant saw the golden chain 
In servile bonds each generous thought restrain : 
His virtue still appeared, though wrapt in shade, 
As Stars with trembling light the clouds pervade." 

PAGE 24. 1.5. Recalled to memory by the adjacent shore. 

This line is most happily introduced ; at once recalling 
the mind to the situation of the Ship, and artfully prepar- 
ing the reader for the episode of Palemon's history.— 
W. L. B. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 16. A sullen languor still the skies opprest. 

How clearly is every circumstance set before us in this 
description. W. L. B. 

PAGE 25. 1.1. On deck, beneath the shading canvas spread, 
Rodmond, a rueful Tale of wonders read 

The character of Rodmond is here admirably preserved. 
It can never be sufficiently lamented that the crews of our 
Ships are not supplied with cheap editions of such books as 
Robinson Crusoe, Sindbad's Narrative, Roderic Random, 
and some of the most interesting Voyages : the perusal 



166 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

of such works would often tend to allay the ferment of 
an irritated and harassed mind. So persuaded was I, 
from experience, of the beneficial effect likely to result 
from an adoption of this idea, that I mentioned it to 
Lord Spencer when he presided at the Board : by whom 
it was approved. 

A passage occurs in Mickle's Translation of Camoens 
Lusiadas, which resembles the above description by Fal- 
coner. (Ed. 8vo. vol. 2. p. 103.) 

" The weary Fleet before the gentle Gale 
With joyful Hope displayed the steady Sail; 
Thro' the smooth Deep they ploughed the lengthen- 
ing way : 
Beneath the Wave the purple car of Day, 
To sable Night the eastern sky resign'd, 
And o'er the Decks cold breathed the midnight wind. 
All but the Watch in warm Pavilions slept, 
The second Watch the wonted Vigils kept; 
Supine their limbs, the Mast supports the head, 
And the broad yard-sail o'er their shoulders spread 
A grateful cover from the chilly Gale, 
And Sleep's soft dews their heavy eyes assail: 
Languid, against the languid power they strive, 
And sweet discourse preserves their thoughts alive: . 
When Leonardo, whose enamoured thought, 
In every dream the plighted Fair-one sought, 
The dews of sleep what better to remove 
Than the soft, woeful, pleasing Tales of Love ? 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 



167 



Ill-timed, alas! the brave Veloso cries, 
The Tales of Love that melt the heart and eyes 5 
The dear enchantments of the Fair I know, 
The fearful Transport, and the rapturous Woe : 
But with our state ill suits the Grief, or Joy, 
Let War, let gallant War our thoughts employ! 
With dangers threatened, let the Tale inspire 
The scorn of danger, and the Hero's fire — 
His Mates with joy the brave Veloso hear, 
And on the Youth the Speaker's toil confer: 
The brave Veloso takes the word with joy, 
And truth, he cries, shall these slow hours decoy— 
The warlike Tale adorns our Nation's fame; 
The Twelve of England give the noble theme." 



PAGE 31. 1.18, 19. The Vessel parted on the 'falling Tide <, 
Yet time one sacred hour to Love supplied. 

The Ship, which was lying at her moorings in the 
river Thames, is here said to part, on her quitting them. 

The falling tide, or Tide of Ebb, is thus described by 
Dr. Hutton : — The Sea is observed to flow for about six 
hours, from south towards north 5 the Sea gradually swell- 
ing 5 so that, entering the mouths of Rivers, it drives 
back the river-waters towards their heads, or springs. 
After a continual flux of six hours, the Sea seems to rest 
for about a quarter of an hour; after which it begins 
to ebb, or retire back again, from north to south, for 
six hours more; in which time, the water sinking, the 
rivers resume their natural course. Then, after a seeming 



168 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

pause of a quarter of an hour, the Sea again begins to flow 
as before : and so on alternately." 

PAGE 32. 1.5. 

The lines that follow are exquisitely conceived: but 
they were also beautiful, though inferior, in the second 
edition : 

" O all ye soft perceptions, that impart 
Impetuous rapture to the fainting heart ; 
In life's last gloom who bid the enchanting ray 
Of joy, voluptuous agonies convey !" 

PAGE 35. 1.18. So melts the surface of the froxen stream 

I am in doubt whether this idea was not better ex« 
pressed in the second edition : 

" So feels the frozen Stream at noon of day 
Awhile the parting Sun's enervate ray." 

PAGE 36. 1. 4. And from her cheek beguiled the falling 
tear. 

It is singular that Johnson should not have more 
strongly marked in his excellent Dictionary, this sense of 
the verb beguile:— thus Shakespeare in Othello: 

" And often did beguile me of my tears." 

This idea was not so elegantly worded in the second edi- 
tion, but the following lines were added which ought 
not afterwards to have been omitted; 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. l6C) 

" So the reviving Sun exhales the showers 
That fall alternate on th' evolving flowers." 

The whole of Palemon's interesting history was consider- 
ably embellished, and enlarged, in the third edition. In 
the second, Palemon, accompanied by his sordid Father, 
joins the Ship at Dover ; and Anna and her Mother, who 
both came on board whilst the vessel remained in the 
river to take leave of Albert, are thus introduced: 

" Fast by that Dome, where from afflicting fate 
The Veteran Sailor finds a safe retreat, 
The Boat prepares to waft them to the shore \ 
They part, alas ! perhaps to meet no more i 
O Muse ! in silence hide the mournful scene ! 
Where all the pangs of sympathy convene." 

What a loss has this asylum experienced by the receut 
death of its Treasurer ! 

PAGE 37. 1. 4. PalemorCs losom felt a sweet relief. 

The four lines that follow are not in the third edition, 
where they have been omitted^to make room for a simile $ 
of which Falconer was too fond : 

" The hapless Bird, thus, ravished from the skies, 
Where all forlorn his loved companion flies, 
In secret long bewails his cruel fate, 
With fond recnembrance of his winged Mate; 
Till grown familiar with a foreign Train, 
Composed at length, his sadly-warbling strain 
In sweet Oblivion charms the sense of pain." 

This simile, as Mr. Bowles observes, is new, pathetic, and 



170 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

poetical; but yet, its application to Palemon is totally 
false, since he never grew familiar with a foreign train : 
with him, 

" Hope fed the wound, and Absence knew no cure." 

■ 

PAGE 37. 1.10. Compassions sacred stream impetuous rolls. 

Our Poet here employs an improper epithet to mark 
the character of the sacred stream of compassion ; and in- 
stead of impetuous, might have rather used unceasing, or 
untainted. 

PAGE 39. 1. 21. Deep Midnight now involves the livid 
skies 

A passage that has wonderful accuracy and beauty. 
The Scene begins with description, picturesque and pleas- 
ing; then a general effect of the phantasms of sleep is spread 
over it; it then becomes more particular, and the mind is 
roused by the striking contrast—^// hands unmoor ! No- 
thing can exceed the manner in which this whole Scene is 
set before us : the weighing of the anchor, and the ap- 
pearance of the Vessel as she glides secure along the 
glassy plain. W. L. B. 

No one but a Seaman would have thought of the epi- 
thet livid so expressive of the discoloured sky, of that 
deep black and blue which pervades its concavity at sea, 
previous to an easterly gale. The waning Moon was thus 
originally introduced: 

" The pale orbed Moon diffusing watery rays, 
Gleamed o'er protracted Clouds, and ambient Haze." 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 171 

During the time that I passed at sea with my ever la- 
mented friend Admiral Payne, I was frequently induced 
by that superior taste for poetry which he possessed, to 
observe the variations of the sublime scenery with which 
we were surrounded. The view by moon-light at sea is 
strikingly beautiful ; and the dimness of its waning orl, 
renders the different parts of a Ship more grand and ter- 
rific. Thomson well described it (Summerj 1. 1686). 

u A faint erroneous Ray, 

Glanced from th' imperfect surfaces of things, 
Flings half an image on the straining eye." 

1 remember watching this effect in the Impetueux off Brest, 
when a ray of the Moon's feeble light played undulat- 
ing from the Horizon to that part of the Deck on which 
I stood. A variety of gigantic meteors appeared to pass 
upon the waves. The Moon then seemed to struggle 
through a thick fleecy cloud, from which at length she 
rapidly emerged with fresh lustre, and gave a new cha- 
racter to the Scene. The mid-ivatch had just commenced ; 
and the hoarse voice of the Boatswain's mates proclaimed 
the hour of night. The sound of the Ship's bell was long 
heard in sullen vibration ; whilst the following passages 
from Hamlet came over my memory, and gave to the 
whole Scene an additional effect : 

Bern. Tis now struck twelve! Get thee to bed, 
Francisco. 

Fran. For this relief much thanks : 'tis bitter cold, 
and I am sick at heart. 



172 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mar. What ! has this thing appeared again to night ? 
Bern. I have seen nothing:. 



'<=>• 



PAGE 41 :i. 6-10. 

The Windlass is a large cylindrical piece of timber 
used in merchant ships to heave up the anchors : it is fur- 
nished with strong iron Pauls to prevent it from turning 
back by the efforts of the Cable, when charged with the 
weight of the Anchor, or strained by the violent jerking 
of the Ship in a tempestuous Sea. As the Windlass is 
heaved about in a vertical direction, it is evident that the 
effort of an equal number of men acting upon it will be 
much more powerful than on the Capstan. It requires, 
however, some dexterity and address to manage the Hand- 
spec, or Lever, to the greatest advantage ; and to perform 
this the Sailors must all rise at once upon the Windlass, 
and, fixing their bars therein, give a sudden jerk at the 
same instant ; in which movement they are regulated by a 
sort of Song pronounced by one of the number. The most 
dexterous managers of the Handspec in heaving at the 
Windlass, are generally supposed to be the Colliers 
of Northumberland -, and of all European Mariners, the 
Dutch are certainly the most awkward, and sluggish, in 
this manoeuvre. Falconer. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 16. Levant and Thracian Gales. 

Or, as in the third edition, <( From East to North." 



TO THE FIRST CANTO. 173 

PAGE ibid. 1. 21. The stately Ship they tow. 

From the Saxon teohan. Towing is chiefly used, as 
in the present instance, when a Ship for want of wind is 
forced toward the shore by the swell of the Sea. Falconer. 

PAGE 42. 1. 7—10 tall Ida's height, 

Tremendous Rock, emerges on the sight ; 
North-east, a league, the Isle of Standi a bears, 
And westward, FueschinV woody Cape appears. 

The celebrated Mount Ida, winch covers almost 
the middle of Candia, is thus described by Tournefort, 
(vol. 1. p. 41.) " Mount Ida is nothing but a huge over- 
grown, ugly, sharp-raised, bald-pated eminence j not the 
least shadow of a landscape, no delightful grotto, no bub- 
bling spring, nor purling rivulet to be seen. Begging 
Dionysius Periegetes's pardon, as likewise his Commenta- 
tor's the Archbishop of Thessalonica, the praises they be- 
stowed on this Mountain seem to be strained, or at least 
are now past their season. Ida, according to Helladius, as 
cited in the Biblioth. of Photius, was the common appel- 
lative of all Mountains, from whence a great extent of 
country could be discovered : and if Suidas may be cre- 
dited, all Forests that afford an agreeable prospect, were 
called Ide, from lfciv, to see. — The Isle of Standia, or ra- 
ther Dia, has been already mentioned in a previous note, 
as being situated N. E. of the Port of Candia ; it lies at 
the distance of about four leagues, and contains three 
Harbours : the two easternmost are much esteemed. — 



174 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

Cape Freschin, or Freschia, is the easternmost of the 
two projecting points of land on the northern coast of 
Candia, and forms a mark for Ships coming to an anchor 
in the road." 

PAGE 42. 1. 15, 16. 

Now swelling Stud-sails on each side extend, 
Then Stay-sails sidelong to the breeze ascend, 

1 . Stud, or studding-sails, called by the French Bo- 
nettes en etui, are light sails, which are extended in mo- 
derate breezes beyond the skirts of the principal Sails ; 
where they appear as Wings upon the Yard-arms. Ac- 
cording to a conjecture of one of Falconer's friends, these 
sails seem originally to have been called steadying Sails, 
from their tendency to keep the ship in a steady course, as 
also from the Saxon word sted, to assist. 2. Stay-sail; 
though the form of Sails is so extremely different, they 
may all be divided into Sails which have either three, or 
four sides : a Stay-sail comes under the first class, and 
receives its name from a large strong rope on which it is 
hoisted, called a Stay; employed to support the Mast, by 
being extended from its upper end towards the fore part 
of the Ship, as the shrouds (a range of large ropes), are 
extended to the right and left of the Mast, and behind it. 
The Yards of a Ship are said to be square, when they hang 
across the Ship, at right angles with the mast ; and braced, 
when they form greater or lesser angles with the Ship's 
length. Falconer. 



TO THE FIRST CANTO, 175 

PAGE 43. 1. 1. The Pilots now their Azimuth attend. 

The magnetical Azimuth, a term which astronomers 
have borrowed from the Arabians, is clearly described by 
Johnson, as, being the apparent distance of the Sun from 
the north or south point of the Compass ; and this is dis- 
covered, by observing with an azimuth Compass, when 
the Sun is ten or fifteen degrees above the Horizon. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 20, 21. White as the Clouds leneath the 

Haze of Noon. 

Before the art of coppering Ships' bottoms was disco- 
vered, they were painted white. The Wales are the 
strong flanks which extend along a Ship's side, at differ- 
ent heights, throughout her whole length, and form the 
curves by which aVessel appears light and graceful on the 
water: they are usually distinguished into the main-wale, 
and the channel- wale. Falconer. 

PAGE 47. 1. 13. Deep Hushing Armors, all the Tops 
invest. 

In our largest Merchantmen, the Tops, or platforms, 
which surround the heads of the lower Mast (for every 
Ship's mast taken in its apparent length, consists of the 
lower mast, the top-mast, and top-gallant mast) are 
fenced on the aft, or hinder side by a Rail of about three 
feet high, stretching across, supported by stanchions; be- 
tween which a netting is usually constructed, the out- 



176 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

side of which was formerly covered with red baize, or 
canvas painted red, and was called the Top Armor ; be- 
ing a sort of blind against the enemy for the men who 
were there stationed. This name is now nearly lost, and 
the Netting is always covered with black canvas. 



END OF THE FIRST CANTO. 






177 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO THE 

SECOND CANTO. 



PAGE 52. 1. 19. 

Rodmond exulting felt th y auspicious Wind, 
And by a mystic Charm its aim confin'd : 

Falconer in these lines has preserved the existence of a 
very old custom among Seamen, particularly those of Nor- 
way, Denmark, and Sweden 5 which consisted in their 
binding a Rope, with several knots tied in it, around the 
Main-Mast : this they considered as an infallible Spell to 
secure the continuance of a favourable Wind. N. P. 

PAGE 53. 1.2. 

After this line, the third edition introduces eight lines, 
which, in the second, follow the eighth line of the ele- 
venth page, in the present edition. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 5, 6. 

they descry 

A liquid Column towering shoot on high : 

All that follows is truly grand, and much superior to 
what Camoens wrote on the same subject; who by a strange 
want of Taste for poetical propriety, though his Genius 

N 



178 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

was undoubtedly of the first order, compared the appear- 
ance of the swoln enormous volume of theWater-Spout, to 
a Leech on the Lips of a Cow ! I congratulate the Public 
that some of the smaller, yet truly exquisite Poems of this 
original, and great Writer, have been so faithfully, and 
so elegantly rendered into English by Lord Strangford. 
It is to be wished that Camoens' Master- Poem, the Lusi- 
adas, might be undertaken by one so capable of express- 
ing its beauties in English. W. L. B. 

PAGE 53. 1.13, 14. 

In spiral motion first, as Seamen deem, 

Swells, when the raging whirlwind sweeps the stream. 

Notwithstanding the different accounts that have been 
published respecting this extraordinary Meteor, some phi- 
losophers still entertain a doubt, whether the water in the 
first instance ascends, or descends. Falconer, like all the 
Seamen I have ever met with, favours the first idea. The 
same opinion was also supported by Dr. Forster in his 
Voyage round the World. (Vol.1, p. 1Q1.) " The Wa- 
ter," he says, " in a space of fifty, or sixty fathoms, moved 
towards the centre 5 and there rising into Vapour, by the 
force of the whirling motion ascended in a spiral form 
toward the clouds." According to the opinion of Signor 
Beccaria Water Spouts have an electrical origin, and as 
a remarkable proof of this, they have been dispersed by 
presenting to them sharp pointed knives, or swords.— Their 
form is that of a speaking trumpet, with the wider end in 
the clouds 5 and their first appearance is in the semblance 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 179 

of a deep Cloud, the upper part of which is white, and the 
lower black : they are generally seen in calm weather. 
The subject of Water Spouts, and the ascent or descent of 
the water in the first instance, is discussed by Mr. Oliver, 
and Dr. Perkins, in the second volume of the American 
Philosophical Transactions : Dr. Perkins supports the lat- 
ter idea, and dwells on Mr. Stuart's account of Water 
Spouts, which also tends to support the Theory of de- 
scent : Mr. Stuarts Figures were drawn with the appear- 
ance of a bush round their base. Dr. Lindsay also, in 
several Letters which he published in the Gentleman's 
Magazine, (vols. 51. 53. 55.) endeavours to establish the 
same theory. Some valuable remarks on this subject 
have appeared from Professor Wilcke of Upsal. 

PAGE 55. 1. 11. What radiant changes strike th' asto- 
nished sight ! 

Falconer feels all the enthusiasm of the ancient Poets 
in his description of their sacred Fish, whom Ovid made 
the preserver of his Arion. (Fasti, lib. 11. 113.) — Our 
Naturalists now divide this Genus into three species : the 
Dolphin, the Porpesse, and the Grampus. The beauty 
of the dying Dolphin even surpasses Falconer's account 
of it. In the above line there is a striking similarity to 
an expression in a late Cambridge Tripos on Fishing, by 
a gentleman of Trinity College: speaking of the Trout, 
when taken out of the water, he adds- — <f et leti variabilis 
umbra." — The appearance of the Dolphin in this part of 



180 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

the Poem has additional beauty, as the sure sign of an 
approaching Gale. 

PAGE 56. 1. 15,16. 

Across her stem the parting Waters run, 

As Clouds, by Tempests wafted, pass the Sun. 

There is peculiar beauty in these lines, which per- 
haps none but a Seaman will feel the full force of ; and it 
is for want of this, that hardly any Painter, who has not 
been himself at Sea, can make his Ships look alive, as 
sailors term it, upon the waves. The outspreading of 
the salt foam of these parting Waters, gives great variety 
and life to Marine Scenery, and adds much to the cor- 
rectness of any design. A Ship not only throws up the 
salt foam with her keel ahead, but flings it out boldly at 
her sides, and leaves the striated Sea covered with it to a 
considerable distance. — And now I am upon this subject 
let me observe, that nothing can look more forced, or un- 
natural in a marine Drawing, than the introduction of 
floating Barrels, or a Log of Wood, on which artists are 
often accustomed to write their names ; but the various 
kinds of Gull, Mother Carey's Chicken, and other aquatic 
birds, may be introduced with considerable effect. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 19. And while aloof from Retimo she 
steers — 

An account of this City, with a beautiful view of it, 
is given by Tournefort in his Voyage to the Levant — 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 181 

(Vol.1, p. 28.) It is the third place in the Island, and 
is governed by a Bashaw under the Viceroy of Canea. 
Retimo extends along the Haven, the shore of which is 
covered with gardens : The Citadel that was built for its 
security, stands on a sharp rock stretching into the Sea. 
Ships of war were at one time laid up in ordinary below 
the Citadel, but at present there is scarcely depth enough 
for small craft, Retimo is the Rhithymna of Ptolemy. — 
Malachas Foreland, Calo Maleca, or Cape Melier, lies 
twelve miles N. E. of Canea ; the Town, and island of la 
Suda are situated beneath this Cape. 

PAGE 57. 1. 11. But see! in confluence home before the 
Blast : 

I do think that neither Virgil, nor any Poet ancient, 
or modern, has ever introduced the description of a Storm, 
or described it so clearly, faithfully, and poetically, as Fal- 
coner has done in the following lines. W. L. B. 

The gradual rising of a Gale of Wind, (the term by 
which Seamen denote a Storm, which is entirely banished 
from our Naval Vocabulary,) has much of the sublime. 
The preceding Calm,which Falconer has accurately noticed, 
is treacherous and alarming : a watery Sun-set often pro- 
claims what may be expected ; and from that moment the 
violence of the Gale gradually steals upon the Mariner : 
until at length — It comes resistless ! — If not attended with 
rain, a heavy Sea is soon formed 5 like an immense ridge, 
it slowly moves along in dreadful grandeur j and, rising 



182 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

as it were from the abyss, threatens instant destruction, as 
the magnitude of the immense billow is increased by their 
approach to the Ship : when suddenly the nearest sinks 
beneath her keel — whilst the Ship falling into a trough of 
the Sea seems almost thrown on her beam ends : as the 
Ship rights, the Billow rushes from under her with in- 
credible force and rapidity, and with its curling and ex- 
tended ridge covers the adjacent ocean with foam. 

In the second edition, these lines were differently ex- 
pressed : I did not know to which a preference could be 
given, and therefore followed the third edition — 

<e But see ! in confluence borne before Blast, 
A rolling Dusk of clouds the Moon o'ercast 
In dreadful length diffused j the Winds arise, 
And swift the Scud in dark succession flies." 

The Scud, is a name given by Seamen to the lowest 
and lightest Clouds, which are swiftly driven along the 
atmosphere by the winds. 

PAGE 57. 1. 16. Low in the wave the leeward cannon 
lie. 

When theWind crosses a Ship's Course either directly, 
or obliquely, that side of the Ship, upon which it acts, is 
termed the weather side ; and the opposite one, which is 
then pressed downwards, is termed the lee side ; all on 
one side of her is accordingly called to windward, and all 
on the opposite side to leeward : hence also are derived the 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 183 

lee cannon, the lee braces, weather braces, &c. The same 
term is used by Milton, 

" The Pilot of some small night- founded Skiff, 
With fixed Anchor, 
Moors by his side under the Lee ." 

Falconer. 

PAGE 57. 1. 18, 19. Topsails—Reef— Blocks. 

It may be necessary to some of my readers to inform 
them, that Topsails are large square Sails, of the second 
magnitude, and height; as the Courses are of the first 
magnitude, and the lowest. — Reefs are certain divisions 
of the Sail, which are taken in, or let out, in proportion 
to the increase or diminution of the Wind. Blocks are 
what landsmen would rather term from the French word, 
(Poulie) Pullies. 

PAGE 58. 1. 1, 2. More distant grew receding Candia\s 

Shore : 

Falconer with great judgment still keeps his eye on 
the Landscape of the surrounding Scenery - } varying by 
this means the uniformity of the description, and giving 
it a more picturesque cast, and natural effect. W. L. B. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 11, ]2. 15. 

Halyards-— Bow-lines — Clue-lines — Reef Tackles — 
Earings. 

Halyards are those ropes by which Sails are hoisted, 



184 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

or lowered ; Bow-Lines, are ropes fastened to the outer 
edge of square Sails in three different places, that the 
windward edge of the Sail may be bound tight forward 
on a side wind, in order to keep the Sail from shivering. 
Clue-lines, are fastened to the lower corners of the square 
Sails, for the more easy furling of them. Reef-tackles, 
are ropes fastened to the edge of the Sail, just beneath the 
lowest Reef; and being brought down to the deck by 
means of two blocks, are used to facilitate the operation 
of reefing. Earings are small ropes employed to fasten 
the upper corners of the principal Sails, and the extremi- 
ties of the Reefs, to the respective Yard-arms, particularly 
when any Sail is to be close furled. Falconer. 

Pope in one of his Letters speaks very contemptuously 
of what he styles the Tarpaulin Phrase : how wonderful 
that this phrase, in the hands of such a master as Fal- 
coner, should have been made subservient to such an 
almost magical effect. W. L. B. 

PAGE 58. 1. 13. The shivering Sails descend! 
A most striking and happy expression. 

PAGE 59. 1. 4. Brail up the Mizen quick I 

The Mizen is a large Sail bent to the Mizen Mast, 
and is commonly reckoned one of the Courses, which con- 
sist of the Main-sail, Fore-sail, and Mizen. As the word, 
Brails, is a general name given to all the Ropes which 
are employed to haul up the bottoms, lower corners, and 
skirts of the great Sails $ so the drawing them together, 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 185 

for the more ready operation of furling, is called brailing 
them up. The effect which the operation of brailing up the 
Mizen produces, is noticed in the last Note of this Canto. 

PAGE 5Q. 1. 5. Man the clue-garnets, let the Main- 
sheet fly ! 

Clue-Garnets are the same to the Main-sail and 
Fore-sail, which the Clue-lines are to all other Square 
Sails, and are hauled up when the Sail is to be furled, or 
Irailed. Sheets : it is necessary in this place to remark, 
that the Sheets which are universally mistaken by our 
English Poets for the Sails, are in reality the Ropes that 
are used to extend the Clues, or lower corners of the Sails, 
to which they are attached. Falconer. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 6. It rends in thousand shivering sheds on 
high ! 

As the Gale rises, Falconers Description keeps pace 
in grandeur. The circumstances are so rapidly, and yet so 
distinctly brought before us, that it is impossible not to 
see, to hear, to partake the anxiety; and to become, if I 
may thus express myself, one of the unfortunate Crew. 
W.L. B. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 11. Bear up the Helm a-weather 1 

The reason for putting the Helm a-weather, or to the 
side next the wind, is to make the Ship veer before it 
when it blows so hard that she cannot bear her side to it 
any longer. Veering, or Wearing, is the operation by 



186 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

which a Ship, in changing her Course from one hoard to 
the other, turns her stern to windward : the French term 
is, virer vent arriere. Falconer. 

PAGE 5g. 1. 16. Spreads a broad concave to the sweep- 
ing Gale. 

A new and happy image, to convey an idea of the full 
expanded Sail. W. L. B. 

The playful Titania of our immortal Bard, describes 
the same effect, though not with equal force : 

" When we have laughed to see the Sails conceive, 
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind." 

(Midsummer Night's Dream, Jet 2.) 

One of the finest Pictures ever painted by my kind 
friend Romney, was taken from this passage. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 18. Timoneer — 

The Helmsman, from the French Timonnier : it is 
however to be lamented that our Poet had not selected 
some more familiar term from his own language. 

PAGE (30. 1. 5. The Helm to starboard moves — 

In the third edition these lines have been altered so 
as entirely to destroy their beauty : 

" The Helm to starboard turns ; with wings inclin'd 
The sidelong Canvas clasps the faithless Wind." 

This could not have been done by Falconer, but by 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 187 

some injudicious Friend who was not a Seaman, and 
thought by this means to improve the elegance of the 
Poem. I have often thought that Mallet, who employed 
our Author to write for the Critical Review, introduced 
this and other similar alterations in the Shipwreck. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 8. While the Fore staysail balances be- 
fore : 

Called with more propriety the fore top-mast Stay- 
sail : it is of a triangular shape, and runs upon the fore 
top-mast Stay, over the Bowsprit : it consequently has an 
influence on the fore-part of the Ship, as the Mizen has 
on the hinder part ; and, when thus used together, they 
may be said to balance each other. See also the last Note 
of this Canto. Falconer. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 10 tK extended Tack confind. 

The Main-Sail, and Fore-Sail of a Ship, are furnished 
with a Tack on each side, which is formed of a thick rope 
tapering to the end, having a knot wrought upon the largest 
extremity, by which it is firmly retained in the Clue of 
the Sail : by this means the Tack is always fastened to 
windward, at the same time that the Sheet extends the 
Sail to leeward. Falconer. 

PAGE ibid. 1, 13. The Bunt Lines gone! 

Bunt-Lines, are ropes fastened to the bottoms of the 
square Sails to draw them up to the yards, when the Sails 
are brailed, or furled. Falconer. 



188 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 60. 1. 15. TU extending Sheets on either side are 
manrid : 

In the third edition, the incautious pen of some fresh- 
water Sailor is again visible j which the reader will per- 
ceive by comparing the lines, as they stand in the present 
edition, with the following : 

" On either side below the Sheets are mann'd, 
Again the fluttering Sails their skirts expand : 
Once more the Topsails, tho' with humbler plume, 
Mounting aloft, their ancient post resume - } 
Again the bowlines, and the yards are braced, 
And all th' entangled cords in order placed." 

The word Cord is not known on board a Ship, and there- 
fore could not have been used by Falconer. — A Yard is 
said to be braced, when it is turned about the Mast ho- 
rizontally, either to the right, or left : the ropes employed 
in this service are called the larboard and starboard Braces. 

PAGE 6l. 1. 1 — 4. Brails, Head-Ropes, Robands. 

Brails : a general name given to all the Ropes which 
are employed to haul up, or brail the bottoms, and lower 
corners of the great Sails. A Rope is always attached to 
the edges of the Sails, to strengthen, and prevent them from 
rending : those parts of it which are on the perpendicular or 
sloping edges, are called leech ropes, that, at the bottom, 
the foot rope, and that on the top, or upper edge, the 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 189 

Head Rope. Robands, or Rope hands, are small pieces 
of Rope, of a sufficient length to pass two or three times 
about theYards, in order to fix to them the upper edges of 
the respective great Sails : the Robands for this purpose are 
passed through the eyelet holes under the Head-rope. 
Falconer. 

PAGEfjl. 1.5, 6, 7,8. 

That task performed, they first the Braces slack, 
Then to the Chess-Tree drag tK unwilling tack. 
And, while the lee clue-garnet's lower d away, 
Taught aft the Sheet they tally, and belay. 

The Braces are here slackened, because the lee-brace 
confining the Yard, the Tack could not come down until 
the Braces were cast off. The Chess Tree, called by the 
French Taquet d'amure, consists of a perpendicular piece 
of wood, fastened with iron bolts, on each side the Ship : 
in the upper part of the Chess-tree is a large hole through 
which the tack is passed 3 and when the clue, or lower 
corner, of the Sail comes down to it, the Tack is said to 
le aboard, — The two last Lines form an extraordinary in- 
stance of that power, which our Author possessed, of intro- 
ducing the technical terms of Navigation with singular ef- 
fect into poetry. Taught, the roide of the French, and 
dicht of the Dutch Sailors, implies the state of being ex- 
tended, or stretched out. Tally, is a word applied to the 
operation of hauling the sheets aft, or toward the Ship's 
stern. To belay is to fasten. 



190 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 62. 1. 6. But like a ruffian on his Quarry flies. 

Shakespear uses ruffian as a verb : 

" A fuller Blast ne'er shook our battlements : 
If it hath ruffianed so upon the Sea, 
What ribs of oak, when mountains melt on them, 
Can hold the mortice?" Othello. 

The same word is afterwards used by our Author as an ad- 
jective (page 81). Quarry is a term taken from Hawk- 
ing, and signifies Game that is flown at by an Hawk. 
Waller uses it, though not exactly in the same sense with 
Falconer, 

<c They their guns discharge : 

This heard some Ships of ours, though out of view, 
And swift as Eagles to the Quarry flew." 

PAGE ibid. 1. 14. The bounding Vessel dances on the Tide. 

The whole of this, and the preceding paragraph, were 
added in ihe third edition j and, with the exception of this 
line are worthy of Falconer: he could never have inserted 
the word dances. The situation of the Ship is justly 
likened to that of a War Horse; who having at first ex- 
ulted, on " smelling the battle afar off, the noise of the 
captains, and the shouting," reels amidst the subsequent 
shock of the combat : had Falconer lived, he would pro- 
bably have written in a subsequent edition, 

" The bounding Vessel labours on the Tide :" 

for otherwise, even supposing theVessel to dance, the simily 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 191 

would not hold good ; as the Horse reeled, in like man- 
ner, the Ship rolled, or rocked, or laboured. 

PAGE 63. 1. 3, 4. 

They furled the Sails, and pointed to the Wind 
The Yards, by rolling Tackles then confind. 

Or, as in the second edition, 

" Around the Sail the Gaskets they conveyed, 
And rolling Tackles to the Cap belayed." 

The Rolling Tackle, is an assemblage of Blocks or Pullies, 
through which a Rope is passed, until it becomes four-fold, 
in order to confine the Yard close down to leeward when 
the Sail is furled, that the Yard may not gall the mast, 
from the rolling of the Ship. Gaskets are platted Ropes 
to wrap round the Sails when furlecf. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 9—14. Top-Gallant-Yards, Travel- 
lers, Back-Stays, Top-Ropes, Parrels, Lifts, 
Topped, Booms. 

Top-Gallant-Yards, which are the highest ones in 
a Ship, are sent down at the approach of an heavy Gale, to 
ease the mast-heads. Travellers are iron Rings fur- 
nished with a piece of rope, one end of which encircles 
the Ring to which it is spliced : they are principally in- 
tended to facilitate the hoisting or bowering of the Top- 
gallant-Yards ; for which purpose two of them are fixed 
on each Backstay j which are long Ropes that reach on 



10/2 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

each side the Ship, from' the Top-masts (which are the 
second in point of height) to the Chains. Top-Ropes, are 
employed to sway up, or lower, the Top-masts, Top-gal- 
lant-masts, and their respective Yards. Parrells, are 
those bands of rope, by which the Yards are fastened to 
the masts, so as to slide up and down when requisite ; 
and of these there are four different sorts. Lifts, are 
ropes which reach from each mast-head to their respective 
Yard-arms. A Yard is said to beToppED, when one end of 
the yard is raised higher than the other, in order to lower 
it on deck by means of the Top-ropes. Booms, are spare 
Masts, or Yards, which are placed in store on deck, be- 
tween the main and fore-mast, immediately to supply the 
place of any that may be carried away, or injured, by 
stress of weather. Falconer. 

PAGE 64. 1. 8. And cheerless Night oer Heaven her 
reign extends. 

This is a most correct, and awful description of a Sun- 
set, preceding a Storm, or rather an heavy Gale of wind, 
and was some years since selected by Mr. Pocock as the 
subject of a large oil Painting j in which this Artist with a 
bold originality of genius represented only the Sea and 
Sky. No Vessel whatever was introduced: the effect was 
admirable ; and maybe recommended to the notice of such 
persons as are fond of Marine Scenery. The Spectator 
in this beautiful picture is supposed to be standing in a 
JShip, and the view that lies before him is the expanse 
of Ocean rolling in all its grandeur, without any object 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 193 

to intercept the sight : whilst the sickening Orb of the 
setting Sun is enveloped in the crimson scud that tinges 
the dusk of the Horizon. 

I have a melancholy pleasure in retracing Scenes, that 
remind me of my lost and ever to be lamented Friend 
Admiral Payne ; and, as it serves to illustrate a passage in 
the Poem, I trust that such remembrance will not be 
deemed irrelevant by the Reader. 

We were cruising off Ushant, in the Impctueux, dur- 
ing an evening at the close of October, and the dreary 
Coast so continually present to our view, created a painful 
uniformity, which could only be relieved by observing the 
variations of the Expanse that was before us — The Sun 
had just given its parting rays, and the last shades of Day 
lingered on the distant waves -, when a Sky most sublime, 
and threatening, attracted all our attention, and was im- 
mediately provided against by the vigilant Officers of the 
Watch. To the verge of the Horizon, except where the 
Sun had left some portion of its departing rays, a hard, 
lowering, blue firmament presented itself: on this floated 
light yellow Clouds, tinged with various hues of crim- 
son, the never failing harbingers of a Gale. A strong 
vivid tint was reflected from them, on the sails and rig- 
ging of the Ship, which rendered the Scene more dread- 
ful. The very Calm that prevailed was portentous — the 
Sea Bird shrieked as it passed ! As the Tempest gradually 
approached, and the Winds issued from the Treasuries of 
God, the thick darkness of an autumnal Night closed the 
whole in horrid uncertainty : 

<l It was a dismal and a fearful Night ; 
o 



ljH NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

And on my Soul hung the dull weight 
Of some intolerable fate !" Cowley. 

PAGE 64. 1. 17. But here the doubtful Officers dispute— 

This is particularly mentioned, not because there 
Was, or could be, any dispute at such a time between a 
Master of a Ship, and his chief Mate, as the former can 
always command the latter j but to expose the obstinacy 
of a number of our veteran Officers, who would rather 
risk any thing "than forego their ancient rules, although 
many of them are in the highest degree equally absurd and 
dangerous. It is to the wonderful sagacity of these Phi- 
losophers, that we owe the Sea Maxims of avoiding to 
whistle in a Storm, because it will increase the Wind 3 of 
whistling on the Wind in a Calm ; of nailing horse shoes 
on the Mast to prevent the power of Witches ; of nailing 
a fair Wind to the starboard Cat-head,, Sec. Falconer. 

PAGE 65. 1. 13. The Tack's eased off! 

In these lines I have followed the second Edition ; in 
the third they are somewhat different : 

" The Master said ; obedient to command 
To raise the Tack the ready Sailors stand : 
Gradual it loosens, while the involving Clue, 
Swelled by the Wind, aloft unruffling flew." 

It has been already remarked, that the Tack is always 
fastened to windward 3 consequently, as soon as it is cast 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 195 

loose, and the Clue-Garnet is hauled up, the weather Clue 
of the Sail immediately mounts to the Yard; and this 
operation must be carefully performed in a Storm, to pre- 
vent the Sail from splitting, or being torn to pieces by 
shivering. Falconer. 

PAGE 65. 1. 15. The Sheet, and weather- Brace they now 
stand by, 

To stand ly any Rope, is in the language of Seamen 
to take hold of it. Whenever the Sheet is cast off, it is 
necessary to pull in the Weather-Brace, to prevent the 
violent shaking of the Sail. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 18. Loud rattling, jarring, through the 
I locks it t fues! 

One of the finest, and most descriptive Lines in the 
whole Poem ; the beauty of which was entirely destroyed 
in the third, and all the subsequent Editions : 

" Thus all prepared, Let go the Sheet ! he cries ; 
Impetuous round the ringing Wheels it flies." 

PAGE ibid. 1. 21 . By spilling Lines embraced — 

The Spilling Lines, which are only used on particu- 
lar occasions in tempestuous Weather, are employed to 
draw together, and confine the belly of the Sail, when in- 
flated by the Wind over the Yard. Falconer. 



196 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 66. 1. 4. Below, the down-haul Tackle others ply; 

The violence of the Gale forcing the Yard much 
out, it could not easily have been lowered so as to reef the 
Sail, without the application of a Tackle, consisting of 
an assemblage of Pullies, to haul it down on the Mast : 
this is afterwards converted into Rolling Tackle, which 
has been already described in a Note, p. 1Q1. Falconer. 

PAGE 66. 1. 5, 6. 

J ears, Lifts, and Brails, a Seaman each attends, 
And down the Mast its mighty Yard descends : 

Jears, or Geers, answer the same purpose to the Main- 
sail, Foresail, and Mizen, as Haliards do, to all inferior 
Sails. The Tye, a sort of runner, or thick Rope, is the 
upper part of the Jears. The size of the Main-Yard, 
when it is gradually lowered, appears truly tremendous 
and mighty, as our Poet terms it j I could never behold 
it without astonishment. 

The following account of the length of the Yards of 

our good old Ship Impetueux, will enable a Landsman, 

after proportionable deduction, to form some idea of the 

Yards of a Merchantman : 

Feet. In. 

Main Yard 98 Q 

Top-Sail Yard 69 5 

Top-Gallant Yard 42 2 

Fore Yard 85 9 

Fore-Top Sail Yard 67 1 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 10 



U 



Feet. In. 

Fore-Top- Gallant Yard 37 2 

Mi zen -Top -Sail Yard 47 10 

Mizen-Top-Gallant Yard 33 

Cross-Jack Yard 66 O 

Sprit-Sail Yard 6-1 2 

PAGE 66. \.g, — 22, Reef-Lines, Shrouds, Reef- 
Band, Outer and Inner Turns. 

Reef-Lines, are only used to reef the Main-Sail and 
Fore-Sail. Shrouds, so called from the Saxon Scrud, 
consist of a range of thick Ropes stretching downwards 
from the Mast Heads, to the right and left sides of a Ship, 
in order to support the Masts, and enable them to carry- 
Sail j they are also used as Rope Ladders, by which Sea- 
men ascend, or descend, to execute whatever is wanting 
to be done about the Sails, and Rigging. Reef-Band, 
consists of a piece of canvas sewed across the Sail, to 
strengthen it in the place where the eyelet-holes of the 
Reefs are formed. The Outer Turns of the Earing serve 
to extend the Sail along its Yard j the Inner Turns are 
employed to confine its Head-Rope close to its surface. 

Falconer. 

PAGE 6j. 1. Q. A Sea, up-surging with stupendous roll, 

A Sea is the general term given by Sailors to an enor- 
mous Wave ; and hence, when such a Wave bursts over 
the Deck, the Vessel is said to have shipped a Sea. 

Falconer. 



198 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

It is impossible to peruse the dreadful effects of this 
Event, without acknowledging the wonderful powers of our 
Poet : I know only of one Writer who has thus forci- 
bly described the awful horrors of a Watery Grave : Mrs. 
RadclifFs Address to the Winds, is worthy of Falconer ; 
and will serve to impart kindred sensations to the reader's 
mind : 

f< Viewless, through Heav'n's vast vault your course ye 
steer, 
Unknown from whence ye come, or whither go ! 
Mysterious powers ! I hear ye murmur low, 
Till swells your loud Gust on my startled ear, 
And awful, seems to say— some God is near ! 
I love to list your Midnight Voices float 
In the dread Storm that oer the Ocean rolls j 
And while their charm the angry Wave controlls, 
Mix with its sullen roar, and sink remote : 
Then, rising in the pause, a sweeter Note, 
The dirge of Spirits, who your deeds bewail, 
A sweeter note oft swells while sleeps the Gale — 
But soon, ye sightless Powers, your rest is o'er ! 
Solemn, and slow Ye rise upon the air, 
Speak in the Shrouds, and bid the Sea Boy fear; 
And the faint warbled Dirge is heard no more. 

Oh, then I deprecate your awful reign, 
The loud lament, yet bear not on your breath ; 
Bear not the crash of Bark far on the Main, 
Bear not the cry of Men who cry in vain, 
The Crew's dead chorus sinking into death ! 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 199 

Oh give not these, ye Powers ! — I ask alone, 
As wrapt I climb these dark romantic Steeps, 

The elemental War ! the billows moan ! 

» 

I ask the still, sweet Tear that list'ning Fancy weeps." 

PAGE 68. I.17, 18. 

Too late to weather now Morea's land, 

And drifting fast on Athens' rocky strand. 

♦ 

To weather a Shore is to pass to windward of it, which 
at this time was prevented by the violence of the Gale. 
Drift is that motion and direction, by which a Vessel is 
forced to leeward sideways, when she is unable any longer 
to carry sail ; or, at least, is restrained to such a portion of 
sail, as may be necessary to keep her sufficiently inclined 
to one side, that she may not be dismasted by her violent 
labouring produced by the turbulence of the Sea. 

Falconer. 

PAGE 69. 1. 2. And try beneath it sidelong in the Sea. 

To try, is to lay the Ship with her side nearly in the 
direction of the Wind, and Sea, with her head somewhat 
inclined to windward ; the Helm being fastened close to 
the lee-side, or in the sea language, hard a-lee, to retain 
her in that position. See a further illustration in the last 
Note of this Canto. Falconer. 

PAGE ibid. 1.4. Topping Lift ; Knittle-Throt. 

A Tackle, or assemblage of Pullies, which tops the 
upper end of the Mizen-Yard. This Line, and the six fol- 



200 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

lowing, describe the operation of reefing and balancing 
the Mizen. The Knittle is a short Line used to reef the 
Sails by the bottom. The Throt is that part of the Mizen 
Yard, which is close to the Mast, Falconer. 

PAGE Qg. 1. 5. The Head, with doubling Canvas fin ced 
around, 

This was done to prevent any chafing of the Sail when 
balanced. The operation of Balancing is now totally dis- 
used ; great improvements having been since made both 
in the Theory, and Practice of Seamanship. Captain Ben- 
tinck of the Royal Navy invented, and used Triangular 
Courses, which he carried with singular effect in the hea- 
viest Gales j and these Courses were named after him 
Bentincks : since which, Storm Staysails have super- 
seded their use ; and seem to answer every purpose, either 
for lying-to, or giving the Ship way through the Water. 

N P. 
PAGE 71. 1. II, 12. 

Across the geometric Plane expands 
The compasses to circumjacent Lands', 

Here again, the third Edition has been guilty of an in- 
judicious alteration : 

<l In vain athwart the mimic Seas expands" 

It is to be lamented that in our Navy no mathemati- 
cal Instruments are sent on board by the Admiralty. Even 
the Master is obliged to purchase them out of his payj 
and, as that is but moderate, he naturally procures the 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 201 

cheapest that can be obtained. One Set at least of the very 
best that the Metropolis can produce, should be sent from 
The Board to each Ship ; having previously been examined 
by the Royal Astronomer at Greenwich. The institution 
of an Hydrographer at the Admiralty, in order to furnish 
our Ships with correct Charts, will, probably, in time lead 
to the above mentioned desideratum. It is painful to ob- 
serve the wretched Instruments that are now in use on 
board ; nor can the exception of a few Ships, whose 
Captains are Men of independent Fortunes, weaken this 
assertion. 

PAGE /2. 1. 11. Companion, Binacle. 

The Companion is a wooden Porch placed over the 
ladder, that leads down to the Cabins of the Officers. 
The Binacle is a case, which is placed on deck before 
the Helm, containing three divisions; the middle one for 
a Lamp, or Candle, and the two others for Mariners Com- 
passes. There are always two Binacles on the deck of a 
Ship of War, one of which is placed before the Master, at 
his appointed Station. In all the old Sea Books it was 
called Bittacle. — Falconer. 

PAGE ibid. 1. ljr. They sound the Well: 

The Well is an apartment in a Ship's Hold, serving 
to inclose the Pumps : it is sounded by dropping down a 
measured iron rod, which is connected with a long line — 
The Brake is the Pump handle : Falconer again alludes 
to this iron rod, (Page 83. 1. Q.) "Sounding her depth 



202 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

they eyed the wetted Scale." A most valuable discovery 
was made some years since by Mr. Richard Wells, and 
communicated to the American Philosophical Society j by 
means of which Vessels could be pumped at Sea, without 
the labour of Men. See also Naval Chronicle (Vol.11, 
p. 237) 

PAGE 75. 1. J. Meanwhile Arion traversing the Waist, 

The Waist is that part of a Ship which is contained 
between the Quarter Deck, a ad Forecastle ; or the middle 
of that Deck which is immediately below them. When 
the Waist of a Merchant Ship is only one, or two steps in 
descent, from the Quarter Deck, and Fore-Castle, she is 
said to be Galley built ; but when it is considerably deeper, 
as with six or seven steps, she is then called Frigate built. 

Falconer. 
PAGE 76- 1. 6. 

Cimmerian darkness shades the Deep around, 
Save when the Lightnings in terrific blaze 
Deluge the cheerless gloom with horrid rays : 
Above, all Ether fraught with Scenes of Woe — 

I have already in the Life of Falconer mentioned the 
uncertainty that prevails, respecting the Author of the 
favourite Song, Cease rude Boreas : in this passage addi- 
tional testimony seems to arise, that it was composed by 
Falconer: 

' ' In our eyes blue Lightnings flash : 
One wide Water all around us, 
All above us one black Sky !" • 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. 203 

PAGE 76. 1. 18 the looming Waters roar, 

Beautifully expressive of their violence : thus Young — 

" booming o'er his head 

The Billows closed) he's numbered with the dead!" 

In the third Edition, however, this Epithet was ex- 
punged : 

*« o'er 

The Sea-beat Ship th' involving waters roar." 

PAGE 77. 1.21. Her place discovered ly the rules of Art, 

The Lee- way, or Drift, in this passage are synonymous 
terms.— The true course and distance, resulting from these 
Traverses, is discovered by collecting the difference of La- 
titude, and departure of each Course $ and reducing the 
whole into one departure, and one difference of Latitude, 
according to the known rules of Trigonometry: this reduc- 
tion will immediately ascertain the base and perpendicular^ 
or, in other words, will give the difference of latitude and 
departure, to discover the Course and Distance. Falconer. 

PAGE /8. 1.3. Falconera, St. George, Gardalor. 

Falconera a small island in the Archipelago, to the 
N. W. of Milo : there is an open space of Sea to the North 
and South of it 5 but in every other direction are Islands at 
no great distance. Falconer, in his Chart, prefixed to the 
second Edition, marked a line of Rocks throughout the 
E. and S. E. Coast of this Island. The small and steep 



20 t NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

Island of St. Geokge is situated to the S. W. of Cape Co- 
lonna, at the entrance of the Gulf of Egina. Gardalor 
lies off the Coast of Attica, between Cape Colonna, and 
Porto Leono. 

PAGE 79- 1- 15, 16. 

These Seas, where Storms at various seasons How, 
No reigning Winds, nor certain omens know. 
It is in consequence of this that the Greeks in all ages 
have been excellent Boatmen, and bad Seamen. Mr. Mitford 
informs us, in the first Volume of his History of Greece, 
that the English are the only Navigators who can keep this 
Sea in rough Weather, and that they " alone, accustomed 
in all their surrounding Waters to a bolder Navigation, 
commonly venture in the Archipelago to work to wind- 
ward." Mr. Wood in his Essay on Homer, adds — " I re- 
member to have heard an English Captain of a Turkey 
Ship, a Man of knowledge and character, say ; that he 
did not scruple, in tolerable weather, to work within the 
Arches, as our Seamen call the Archipelago, (which is 
itself a corruption of the modern Greek Aigiopelago); but 
he made it a rule never to take off his clothes ; and, with- 
out leaving orders, to be called in the instant of any threaten- 
ing appearance in the Sky, or any dubious sight of land* 
never to quit the Deck." 

PAGE 81. 1. 17, 18. 

Yet where with safety can we dare to scud 
Before this Tempest, and pursuing Flood? 
The movement of Scudding, from the Swedish word 



TO THE SECOND CANTO. c 205 

Skidta, is never attempted in a contrary Wind, unless, as 
in the present instance, the condition of a Ship renders her 
incapable of sustaining any longer on her side, the mu- 
tual efforts of the Winds and Waves. The principal ha- 
zards, incident to Scudding, are generally a pooping Sea ; 
the difficulty of steering which exposes the Vessel perpe- 
tually to the risk of broaching-to; and the want of suf- 
ficient sea room: A Sea striking the Ship violently on the 
stern may dash it inwards, by which she must inevitably 
founder j in broaching-to suddenly, she is threatened 
with being immediately overset j and., for want of sea- 
room, she is endangered with Shipwreck on a lee-shore; 
a circumstance too dreadful to require explanation. Fal- 
coner. 

PAGE 83. 1.13, 14. 

And now the senior Pilots seemed to wait 
Arion's voice, to close the dark debate : 

The word Pilots occurs too often, since it is invariably 
used in a sense foreign to its real meaning — the Master, 
and Mates of the Vessel. The reader will here remember, 
under the character of Arion that of Falconer himself 
is described : in the Speech therefore, that succeeds, we 
have the real sentiments of our Author at this critical 
emergency, which, with considerable effect, he has thus 
reserved to close the debate. 

PAGE 84. 1. 7. Thus water-logged— 

A Ship is said to be iv at cr- logged, when having re- 



206 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

ceived through her leaks a great quantity of water into her 
Hold, she has become so heavy and inactive on the Sea, 
as to yield without resistance to the efforts of every wave 
that rushes over the deck. As in this dangerous situation 
the centre of gravity is no longer fixed, but fluctuates 
from place to place, the Stability of the Ship is utterly 
lost: she is therefore almost totally deprived of the use of 
her Sails, which operate to overset her, or press the head 
under water: hence there is no resource for the Crew, ex- 
cept to free her by the Pumps, or to abandon her for the 
Boats as soon as possible. Falconer. 

PAGE 89. 1. 9, 10. Hatches, Lanyard. 

Falconer, to avoid repetition, has in the word Hatches, 
employed a term which he himself in his Dictionary in- 
forms us, Seamen sometimes incorrectly use for Gratings j 
a sort of open cover for the Hatchways, formed by several 
small laths, or battens, which cross each other at right 
angles, leaving a square interval between: these Gratings 
are not only of service to admit the air and light between 
decks, but also to let off the smoke of the great guns 
during Action. 

Lanyard, or Laniard, is a short piece of line fastened 
to different things on board a Ship, to preserve them in a 
particular place j such are the Lanyards of the gun ports, 
the Lanyard of the Buoy, the Lanyard of the Cat hook, 
&c. but the Lanyards alluded to in the above line, were 
those, by means of which the Shrouds were kept extended ; 
or, as a Sailor would express himself, taught. 



TO THE SECOND GANTO. 207 

PAGE 92. 1. 14. Both stay-sail Sheets to mid-ships were 
conveyed, 

The fore Stay sail being one of the Sails which com- 
mand the fore part of the Ship, is for that reason hoisted 
at this time, to bear her fore-part round before the Wind : 
for the same reason, after it is split, the foremost Yards are 
braced aback 5 that is, so as to form right angles with the 
direction of the wind. For a further illustration of this, 
see the subsequent note. Falconer. 

PAGE 94. 1. 4. And hew at once the Mizen-mast aivay ! 

In addition to the nautical notes by Falconer, the 
following Illustration of the Orders that have been given 
by Albert, was subjoined by our Author to the second 
edition. — " When a Ship is forced by the violence of a 
contrary Wind to furl all her Sails, if the Storm increases, 
and the Sea continue to rise, she is often strained to 
so great a degree, that, to ease her, she must be made 
to run before their mutual direction 3 which however is 
rarely done but in cases of the last necessity: now as she 
has no head- way, the Helm is deprived of its governing 
power, as the latter effect is only produced in consequence 
of the former: it therefore necessarily requires an uncom- 
mon effort to wheel, or turn her, into any different position. 
It is an axiom in Natural Philosophy, that ' Every Body 

* will persevere in its state of rest, or moving uniformly 

* in a right line, unless it be compelled to change its state 
' by forces impressed ; and that the change of motion is 



208 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

' proportional to the moving force impressed, and is made 
c according to the right line in which that force acts.' 

" By this principle it is easy to conceive, how a Ship is 
compelled to turn into any direction, by the force of the 
Wind acting upon her Sails in lines parallel to the plane 
of the horizon ; for the Sails may be so set, as to receive 
the current of air either directly, or more or less obliquely 5 
and the motion communicated to the Ship must of neces- 
sity conspire with that of the Wind. As therefore the 
Ship lies in such a situation as to have the Wind and Sea 
directly on her side 5 and these increase to such an height, 
that she must either founder, or scud before the Storm; 
the afttnost Sails are first taken in, or so placed that the 
Wind has very little power on them ; and the Head-Sails, 
or foremost Sails, are spread abroad, so that the whole 
force of the Wind is exerted on the Ship's forepart, which 
must therefore of necessity yield to its impulse. The Prow 
being thus put in motion, its motion must conspire with 
that of the Wind, and will be pushed about so as to run 
immediately before it : for this reason when no more Sail 
can be carried, the foremost Yards are braced aback, that 
is, in such a position as to receive all the current of air 
they can contain directly, to perform the operation of 
Head-Sails ; and the Mizen-Yard is lowered to produce 
the same effect as furling, or placing obliquely the aft- 
most Sails; and this attempt being found insufficient, the 
Mizen-Mast is cut away, which must have been fol- 
lowed by the Main-Mast, if the expected effect had not 
taken place." 



NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

TO THE 

THIRD CANTO. 

PAGE 97. 1.1. When in a barbarous Age, 

These beautiful introductory Reflections on the bene- 
ficial influence of Poetry, as promoting the civilization, 
and consequently the happiness of mankind, form an un- 
answerable reply to the enthusiastic ravings of Rousseau, 
and his fellow madmen j who have attempted to raise the 
character of the human savage, above the mind that has 
been polished with the embellishments of social life. 

PAGE 100. 1. 15, 16. 

While round before tK enlarging Wind it falls, 
" Square fore and aft the Yards" the Master calls, 

The Wind is said to enlarge, when it veers from the 
side towards the Stern. To square the Yards, is, in this 
place, to haul them directly across the Ship's length. 

Falconer. 
PAGE ibid. 1. 19. So, steady! meet her! 

Steady! is an order to steer the Ship according to the 
line on which she then advances, without deviating to 
the right, or left. Falconer. 

PAGE 101. 1. 1 . Then back to port, 

The left side of a Ship is called Port in steering, that 



210 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

the Helmsmen may not mistake larboard, for starboard. 
In all large Ships, the Tiller, (or long bar of Timber, 
that is fixed horizontally to the upper end of the Rud- 
der,) is guided by a Wheel, which acts upon it with the 
powers of a Crane, or Windlass. Falconer. 

PAGE 102. 1. 5—12. As that rebellious Angel, 

This allusion to the flight of Satan from Hell, forms 
one of the most beautiful Similes in the Poem. It is de- 
scribed by Milton in two separate passages, at the conclu- 
sion of his second Book of Paradise Lost. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 19, 21. Poop, Bow. 

Poop, from the Latin word Puppis, is the hindmost, 
and highest deck of a Ship. The Bow, is the rounding 
part of a Ship's side forward, beginning at the place where 
the planks arch inwards, and terminating where they close 
at the Stem, or Prow. Falconer. 

PAGE 103. 1. 13 when past the Beam it flies, 

On the Beam, implies any distance from the Ship on a 
line with the Beams, or at right Angles with the Keel : 
thus, if the Ship steers northward, any object lying east, 
or west, is said to be on her starboard, or larboard beam. 

Falconer. 
PAGE 104. 1. 16. 

They did : for in this desert, joyless Soil, 
No flowers of genial Science deign to smile; 

The whole of what follows would have been more 



TO THE THIRD CANTO. 211 

clearly expressed, had our Author substituted our > for this : 
since the reader is at first troubled to find out, whether 
the soil of the classic Territory of Greece is not alluded 
to— 

" They did : for in our desert, joyless Soil — " 

Or in our uneducated miserable profession, no love of 
Science, or of Literature, ever appears. 

In these and the following lines, Falconer very un- 
justly abuses the Taste, and classical acquirements of na- 
val Officers : his own Mind was alone sufficient to con- 
tradict such an assertion. No Profession, whatever, che- 
rishes with more assiduity the " flowers of genial Science," 
and the glowing numbers of Poesy, than the British Navy. 
To the name of Falconer, may be added that of Mickle, 
and many others, who were, as Mr. Pye says, 

" Nursed on the Waves, and cradled in the Storm." 

Nor can I allow, that Oceans Genius withers the bloom 
of every springing flower : the sublime Camoens composed 
the greater part of his Lusiadas at Sea, under the imme- 
diate influence of this Genius -, and, if I were requested to 
select a person, whose taste for Poetry, and other classic 
acquirements was superior to that of the rest of Mankind, 
I should be justified in mentioning a name,which will ever 
be engraven on my heart — the late Admiral J. W. Payne. 

PAGE 105. 1. 19. 

Immortal Athens first, in ruin spread, 
Contiguous lies at Port Lioxo's head; 
Porto Leone, the ancient Pi r;eum, received its modern 



212 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

title from a large Lion of white Marble, since carried by 
the Venetians to their Arsenal. The Ports of ancient 
Athens were — 1. Phalerim; 2. Munichia, and 3. Py- 
rceus, the most capacious. 

A particular account of modern Athens, or as it is now 
called Athini, is given by Dr. Chandler : it was also visited 
by Lord Sandwich in his Voyage round the Mediterranean. 
Its Antiquities have been amply described by LeRoy, and 
Stuart. I have already mentioned the dangerous Navi- 
gation of the Archiepelago, and it is considerably increased 
as you advance towards Porto Leone j particularly if the 
Ship is of any great burden. At the close of the year 1802, 
the Braakel of 54 guns, commanded by my brother Capt. 
George Clarke, was sent on this hazardous service 5 which 
he accomplished at the most imminent risk — the fol- 
lowing extract from his Letter will illustrate the dan- 
ger which Falconer so well describes : " From the ig- 
norance of the Pilot, the Braakel, when in stays, struck 
at. Midnight on a point of land, that forms the entrance 
of the harbour of Porto Leone, eight miles from the town 
of Athens, I contrived to land a quantity of Provisions 
on the Rocks, and was obliged to order half the guns to be 
hove overboard j at the same time a Sheet Anchor, and 
Cable, were got out astern to heave the Ship off, which 
we in vain attempted for many hours : at length, to our 
great joy, being assisted by the Wind coming strong right 
off the Land, we swung round off, and rode stern to wind 
by the above mentioned Anchor. In about an hour the 
Weather changed ; the Wind shifted, and placed the Ship 



TO THE THIRD CANTO. 213 

with a strong Gale, and heavy Sea close to the Shore. 
The Cable was instantly cut, and we made sail to get 
round the northern extremity of the point; when the Pilot, 
again mistaking the Land, we anchored in a wrong posi- 
tion, yet clear of the Rocks; until the wind shifting, 
placed the Ship in the middle of a second dark stormy 
Night. We came slap on shore, along-side the Rocks : 
fortunately the Ship lay tolerably easy, being assisted 
by the Anchor; which owing to the Wind shifting, 
brought it well out on the starboard Bow. Day-break at 
length appeared, and the Gale shifted again : hove on 
the Anchor, and succeeded in getting her off after a few 
hard knocks, the loss of a little Copper, and part of the 
false Keel. Made sail again, weathered our danger, and 
anchored for want of Wind; when, a breeze springing up, 
we got safe into Porto Leone. In performing this we lost 
the Sheet Anchor, the Stream, and the Kedge. On leav- 
ing this Harbour we were driven back three times ; when 
I bore up for Port Oliver, in the Island of Metelin, where 
there is an Harbour beyond description safe, and spacious. 
I do not think this is generally known ; or what is more, 
that the Turks build Frigates there ; one of 32 guns was at 
this time on the stocks." G. C. 

PAGE 108. 1.18. That pipes among the Shades of En- 
derm ay. 

A Song entitled the BirTzs of Endermay, was written 
by Mallet, and is mentioned by Dr. Currie in his Life of 
Burns. (Page2;S.) 



214 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 110. 1. 18. No human Footstep marks the track- 
less sand. 

And thus Petrarch, 

Dove vestigio uman l'arena stampi. F. D. 

PAGE 111. 1. 20. The seat of Sacred Troy is found no 
more. 

Amidst the disputes that have harassed the learned World 
on this subject, I am glad to subjoin the opinion of my 
Brother, Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, who has so 
lately visited Troy ; and, after a minute examination of 
every particular on the spot, has been convinced that such 
a City did exist, as was described by Homer. — " Travellers 
visiting the Plain of Troy in search of Columns, or Sta- 
tues, by which the scite of ancient Ilium may be deter- 
mined, are not less idly occupied, than those persons who 
have pretended to discover such remains : the latter class, 
have fallen into the error of the Painter, employed by 
Comte de Caylus, (SeeWinkelmann, liv. iv. ch. 8. Note,) 
to illustrate the Picture by Polygnotus at Delphi, accord- 
ing to Pausanias j who ornamented the City of Troy with 
Columns, and Statues of Marble — Monuments of the Arts, 
that were unknown at the time of the Trojan War. All 
that we can expect to discover, in order to identify the 
Scene of that War, are the features of Nature as described 
by Homer ; and these are found, precisely answering his 
description." E. D. C. Dr. Chandler has lately con- 
sidered this subject in his History of Troy. 



TO THE THIRD CANTO. 215 

PAGE J 12. 1.7. 

Whose gleam directed loved Leander o'er 
The rolling Hellespont 

A few years since, a servant of the Neapolitan Consul 
at the Dardanelles, swam across the Hellespont ; and, after 
a short walk on the Asiatic Coast, returned back in safety, 
notwithstanding the extreme rapidity of the Current. 

E. D. C. 

PAGE ibid. 1. 20. Remote from Ocean lies the Delphic. 
Plain. 

Falconer very properly writes Detyhic. Swift made a 
point of writing Delphos, instead of Delphi; and until I 
had perused Bentleys Dissertation on Phalaris, I thought 
it should be thus written. Jortin, on this account, says of 
Swift, that <c he should have received Instruction from 
whatever quarter it came ; from Wotton, from Bentley, or 
from Beelzebub" — It was my Relation Dr. Wotton, who 
first noticed the absurd use of Delphos, for Delphi j see the 
above Dissertation, (Preface, page 46.) where Bentley de- 
fends Dr. Wotton's opinion. 

Few Travellers have visited Delphi, although it is 
perhaps the most interesting, even in its present state, of 
all that were Grecian Cities. Some remains of its cele- 
brated Temples may still be seen, astonishing by their pro- 
digious size and workmanship. But the beauty of the 
Castalian Spring, adorned with wild and hanging foliage, 
surrounded by the precipices, and rocks of Parnassus, is 
unequalled. E. D. C. 



216 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 116. 1. 8. TK impelling Floods, that lash her to 
the Shore : 

Falconer was too fond of Similes, particularly in the 
third Edition, where the following was introduced after 
the above line : 

u As some benighted Traveller, through the Shade, 
Explores the devious path with heart dismay'd ; 
While prowling Savages behind him roar, 
And yawning pits, and quagmires lurk before — " 

And after the ninth, and tenth Lines in the same Page, 

t( As some fell Conqueror, frantic with success, 
Sheds o'er the Nations ruin and distress." 

Both these Similes come too quick after that of the re- 
treating army. In this, and other similar instances, I have 
preferred the second Edition. 

PAGE 1 17. After the second Line, the second Edition 

reads , 

" Such flaming horror, Amos' a Son foretold, 
Down-rushing on th' Assyrian King of old." 

And in the same Page, subsequent to the fourth Line > 
in the same Edition, 

" Aghast on deck the shivering Wretches stood, 
While Fear, and chill Despair congealed their blood: 
And lo! all terrible, the King of Kings 
Thro' the sad Sky, arrayed in lightning, springs : , 

a Isaiah, chap. xxx. 



TO THE THIRD CANTO. 217 

Tremendous panoply ! his right arm bare 

Red burning, shoots destruction through the air! 

Hark ! his strong voice," &c. 

After the two lines that follow, are also inserted, 

" Wide bursts in dazzling sheets the sulphured Flame, 
And dread concussion rends th' ethereal frame : 
Not fiercer tremors shook the World beneath, 
When, writhing in the pangs of cruel Death, 
The sacred Lord of Life resigned his breath." 

PAGE 118. 1. 8. Forth issues oer the Wave the weeping 
Morn ! 

It is to be lamented that Falconer did not here de- 
scribe that beautiful phenomenon called the Marine 
Raineow, which is sometimes observed in a Sea much 
agitated. Twenty or thirty may be seen together, and in 
a position opposite to that of the common Bow. The Weep- 
ing Morn has been selected by Mr. Pocock as the subject 
of a large Marine Picture, which he executed with his 
usual Genius. 

PAGE 119. last line. — still they dread her Iroaching-to, 

The great difficulty of steering the Ship at this time 
before the Wind, is occasioned by its striking her on the 
quarter, when she makes the least angle on either side j 
which often forces her Stern round, and brings her broad- 
side to the Wind and Sea : this is an effect of the same 
cause which is explained in the last note of the second 
Canto. Falconer. 



21$ NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 120. 1.7,8. 

Not half so dreadful to JEneas eyes 
The Straits of Sicily were seen to rise, ! 

Alluding to the following beautiful passage in Virgil, 
(JEneid. iii. v. 554.) 

" Tarn procul e fluctu Trinacria cernitur iEtna, 
Et gemitum ingentem Pelagi, pulsataque saxa 
Audimus longe, fractasque ad littora voces ; 
Exultantque vada, atque aestu raiscenter arenas. 
Et pater Anchises : " Nimirum haec ilia Charybdis: 
Hos Helenus scopulos, haec saxa horrenda canebat. 
Eripite, 6 Socii, pariterque insurgite remis." 
Haud minus, ac jussi, faciunt : primusque rudentem 
Contorsit laevas proram Palinurus ad undas: 
Lsevam cuncta cohors remis, ventisque petivit. 
Tollimur in ccelum curvato gurgite, et iidem 
Subducta ad manes imos descendimus unda. 
Ter scopuli clamorem inter cava saxa dederej 
Ter spumam elisam, et rorantia vidimus astra." 

After this allusion, the second edition inserts the following 
lines : 

" So they attempt St. George's Shoals to clear, 
Which close beneath the larboard Beam appear.'* 

PAGE 123. 1. 5, 6. 

The Vessel, while the dread Event draws nigh. 
Seems more impatient oer the Waves to fly ; 

An Idea equally correct and beautiful, and well un- 



TO THE THIRD CANTO. 21Q 

derstood by all who have been engaged with a Lee Shore. 
Having occasion to wear, the mind anxious, and care- 
worn, becomes impatient to try the other tack j and 
therefore fancies that the Vessel flies towards danger, with 
unwonted celerity. N. P. 

PAGE 124. 1. 5, 6 the faithful Stay 

Drags the Main top-mast by the Cap away : 

The Main top-mast Stay comes to the fore-mast head, 
and consequently depends upon the fore-mast as its sup- 
port. The Cap is a strong, thick block of wood, used to 
confine the upper and lower Masts together, as the one is 
raised at the head of the other. The principal Caps of a 
Ship are those of the lower Masts. Falconer. 

PAGE 126. 1. 10. For every Wave now smites the qui- 
vering Yard-, 

The Sea at this time ran so high, that it was impossi- 
ble to descend from the Mast-head without being washed 
overboard. Falconer. 

PAGE 133. 1. \7, &c 

Down from his neck, with Hazing gems array' 'd, 
Thy image, lovely Anna ! hung pourtrayed; 
TK unconscious figure smiling all serene I 

This image of the calm, unconscious portrait, is a 
most poetical, new, and striking combination. W. L. B. 



220 NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 137. 1. 9. Oh! then, to swell the tides of social 
woe, 

After this line, the second Edition reads, 

" Thou, who hast taught the tragic harp to mourn 
In early youth o'er royal Frederic's urn." 

PAGE ibid. 1. 18. All thoughts of Happiness on Earth 
are vain ! 

" sed scilicet ultima semper 

Expectanda dies hominij dicique beatus 
Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet." 

Falconer. 



Farewell, poor Falconer! when the dark Sea 
Bursts like despair, I shall remember thee ; 
Nor ever from the sounding Beach depart 
Without thy music stealing on my heart, 
And thinking still I hear dread Ocean say, 
THOU HAST DECLARED MY MIGHT, 
BE THOU MY PREY! 

W. L. B. 

FINIS. 



T. Bensley, Printer, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London. 



LP.JI'I2 



